Escape
by wixley-kryptonese
Summary: Loki's children: Fenrir, Hel, Sleipnir and Jormungandr. Now imagine that he has them, and Odin plans to kill them - only, they're born dead...or are they? Frigga, knowing Odin's plan, wants to secrete them away - and who might look after them? Well, it can really only be one person: our favourite, taser-wielding scientist babysitter...all hail Darcy Lewis!
1. Chapter 1

"Jormungandr, his name was supposed to be- to be _Jormungandr_."

Frigga pressed a hurried kiss to the crying Loki's forehead, trying not to break her composure as she walked out, secretly motioning to the helper left behind in the room, meeting eyes with Eir as she swaddled the magically silenced child, shutting the door. Both Thor and Odin stood at her arrival, the latter bringing Gungnir up with a grim expression.

"Does the child live?"

Frigga held her heart steady as she shook her head. Immediately Thor let out an oath, turning away to punch the wall. Odin sent a disappointed look at the door.

"I am dishonoured further." Frigga only contained her anger from thousands of years of practice as he walked away, Einherjar on his tail, leaving her with her own usual guard of two. She waved them away without a word, waiting a few moments to pull herself together before walking out, journeying to the other side of the palace before taking a secret passage that led under the city to the most eastern point of the civilisation, running so fast that she almost flew. There, at the end of the passage, waiting in the small room with the babe, was the helper, her handmaiden Fulla.

Frigga cast her eyes across the room, feeling her heart swell and her eyes wet as she watched the children play and draw on the ground.

"Did that awful woman go quietly?" She whispered to Fulla as she shifted her grip on the baby Jormungandr, who was spelled asleep. Fulla nodded, sharp eyes on Hel as she giggled, blowing frosty air over her painting, both drying and wetting it.

"Gefjun wasn't happy that the children were being taken away," Fulla stood, somehow managing to clap her hands loud enough the three playing children stopped their antics, "Children, your grandmother is here."

Each looked at her with varying degrees of confusion and fear, which was to be expected after being raised on the horror stories of Odin Allfather – it wasn't much of a step to conclude that she was like her dratted husband. Frigga though, remembering her own children, swept down to the ground, going to her knees with a heartfelt smile.

"Hello children. I'm so glad to finally meet you all." Frigga felt tears come to her eyes as Fenrir grasped Hel's shoulders, the little girl tugging away, trying to come over to her. On the floor beside them, Sleipnir crawled over, making Fenrir emit a panicked noise before Sleipnir came to a stop in front of her, using her knees as steps to kneel, blinking bright blue eyes at her.

"Nana?"

Frigga beamed at the boy, taking him into her arms, hugging his small form to her own, not caring that instead of radiating heat, he was a cool bundle in her grip.

"Yes, I'm your Nana, little one. We're going to go somewhere – somewhere safe." She whispered, looking over to Fenrir, meeting his dark brown eyes without fear. The boy let Hel go, the girl coming over, joining her brother as Frigga stood, putting each on one hip. She glanced at Fulla, who had stood up, one arm holding the baby, and the other with a bag resting in the crook of her elbow. "But before we go – have you all met your new baby brother?"

At that, Fenrir moved, coming over and snatching the child from Fulla. To Frigga's surprise, Fulla only gave the boy a sharp look of warning.

"Be careful with Jormungandr, young prince," the handmaiden murmured as the black-haired boy shuffled backwards, holding the baby protectively even as he gazed upon the babe's face. "He is only an hour born."

"I'll take care of him," he quietly proclaimed, before kissing his forehead. Frigga felt her heart swell once more, watching the show of loyalty, before she stepped towards Fulla, taking the bag from her.

"Eir wanted me to say-" Fulla started, but Frigga interrupted her with an apologetic expression.

"Go back to the palace now," she ordered softly, "your help is much appreciated, my friend."

Fulla curtseyed, lowering her head, "Anything for you, my Queen." Then she left, giving only a small glance to Jormungandr, leaving Frigga with the children.

"Fenrir, could you come here please, and hold on somehow?" The boy nodded before coming over, shifting Jormungandr into one arm before gripping her dress. She nodded before shutting her eyes, smiling slightly at the tugging on her hair, and the face that pressed into her neck. Teleporting was precise work though, so she focused elsewhere, ignoring her surroundings as she focused on the land in Asgard, on the meadow that she called her own…

A burst of power.

A breeze along her face.

She opened her eyes to a starry horizon, and a gaping crack surrounded by flowers. Fenrir in front of her turned, looking around with wide eyes.

"What are those?" He whispered as Hel gasped, before giving a laugh, reaching out of her grip towards the flowerbed. Frigga gave him a warm look before stepping around him towards the crack.

"They are called flowers, sweet, but we have one more journey to make. Come hold on once more." Fenrir looked about to protest, but meeting her eyes once more caused silence. He came over, looking down into the bottomless crack.

"What is it?" He asked as Sleipnir made a noise of fear, Hel's laugh dying away as she gripped Frigga's hair more tightly.

"A crack between the worlds, that will take us to a place where you will be safe – safe from Odin, safe from Asgard, until you are old enough to face everything the Realms have to off-" all of a sudden there was a rumbling, and an earthquake that caused Frigga to drop to the ground, the young children rolling towards the crack, Fenrir tripping, letting Jormungandr go.

Frigga let out a cry, reaching out with her magic to catch them, stop them before they fell through the crack, or to at least reverse the process-

And failed, just as Thor dropped down into the meadow.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Darcy Lewis was thirty-one, she had finished college with Masters Degrees in Political Science, Psychology, Child Psychology and Child Development. The second she took on whim after taking the third and _fourth_ on whim, deciding to do them after conversing and watching an episode of Supernanny with Director iPod-Thief, who enlightened her – babysitting scientists and superheroes who forgot to eat, bathe, care, etcetera, was harder than actual childcare, so they had a distinct advantage when it came to understanding humans. After that though, she didn't do anything with it. She lived with Jane as her live-in babysitter, in her science facility in New York and occasionally Avengers Tower, whenever evil villains attacking New York or even Jane herself destroyed said facility.

So it was sort of inevitable that she'd come into contact with some sort of alien doo-da.

"Shit!" Darcy shouted as the round, circular glowy-time-gem-thing came speeding at her. On automatic she turned around, curling up slightly in preparation to being hit – and hit it did, with a big burst of light that left her feeling like she was going to puke before she squinted her eyes open, only to freeze upon seeing she was lying on a bed, with an acceptance letter from Culver University.

Slowly, she looked around, noting she was in her room…at home…in Tucson, Arizona…in her room…in _Arizona_. Not New York. Not Avengers Tower. Arizona. _Arizona._ Darcy sat up slowly, looking around. Her room was boxed up, meaning… _meaning_ …

Darcy looked at the letter from Culver University.

"Fuck, have I time-travelled?" She stood up, looking at what she was wearing, blinking at seeing herself in a white halter-necked shirt that showed her belly-button, a jean skirt with trainers and turned down socks, a long circular bag sitting on her shoulder. She hadn't worn those kinds of clothes in years. She felt like a little kid. Feeling a lump in the bag, she took it out, almost having an immediate meltdown when she saw it was flip phone. A _flip phone_. "Oh my god, there isn't a smart-phone yet." She whimpered, biting her nails, only to find them covered in fake nails. "Oh my god. Darcy Lewis cannot be seen like this."

"Darcy!" Her door suddenly slammed open, admitting a tall, smiling figure. Darcy felt her stomach drop at seeing her brother, Darius, before letting out a noise of disgust at seeing him in nothing but a towel – the towel being slung over his shoulder.

"Darius! What the hell?! Put some pants on!" She covered her eyes, before belatedly remembering she was wearing glasses, ruining the effect. She shut her eyes, looking away. "What do you want?"

Darius pouted, "Aw, Darce! I was just seeing you off! You're leaving in less than ten minutes and I'm going on deployment for the first time ever – we might never see each other again."

Darcy remembered with a jolt, opening her eyes in shock only to shut them.

"Put some pants on then come back," she replied forcefully, waiting through the complaints before he left, shutting the door on the way out. She let out a breath. "Oh gods…" she could remember this – Darius would go away on deployment and then less than a week later would get blown up. Darcy dropped, boneless to her bed, putting a hand to her mouth, feeling tears come to her eyes. She'd have to lose him all over again…

If she'd indeed time-travelled, that was.

Swallowing, knowing he'd be back in a few seconds with a pair of pants on, Darcy peeled off her fake nails, grimacing at the sight of glue before flicking them into the bin beside the door – which opened once more to admit Darius, wearing…his pilot jumpsuit thing? Darcy frowned as he did the buttons of his jacket. _Has time changed already?_ Last time around he was in his suit… Darius grimaced after finishing his buttons, holding up his cuffs.

"Can you do them, sis?" Darcy nodded quietly, getting up once more and coming over, doing them slowly, revelling in being so close to _Henry_ _Darius Lewis_. "Sis? What's the matter?" He brought a hand to her face, wiping away a tear.

"Sorry," she didn't even know she was crying, "I…I just don't want you to die." Her tears increased, her shoulders shaking as her head pressed against his chest. He sighed good-naturedly, hugging her tightly.

"Darcy, I'm not going to die. Don't get so worked up. I've been training for years now. This is my chance to prove it means something." Darcy shut her eyes, hugging him back before he pulled away. "Now, where's your suitcase?"

"Uh," she glanced around, seeing it and dreading the contents. "There." Darius went over, grabbing it and putting it on his shoulder.

"Come on. Let's go downstairs and see Meemaw before she dies." Darcy let out a chuckle at that, wiping her eyes before glancing around her room again, seeing if she needed anything, grabbing her acceptance letter and a dark green scarf a few seconds later. Together they went downstairs, greeting their grandmother, who Darcy had already seen succumb to cancer in a month's time, saying their goodbyes.

"I'll send your things in the mail once you write me your new address," Meemaw promised Darcy with a smile, causing the woman to kiss her cheek before getting into Darius' car. He would drop her off near the exit of the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base before going off to join his fellows, then she would take a bus to the public airport – then, off to Virginia she'd go, Culver University awaiting her at the other end of the line.

And maybe by the time she got there, Darcy would have some idea what to do.

* * *

Coulson looked at her sceptically, "The future?"

She nodded, "Yup. We watched Supernanny together, you and me, DC."

"DC?"

"Director Coulson," she said with a smirk, "though I'm not saying more on SHIELD itself in two thousand and sixteen. I'm gonna let most of what happens, happen. There's just as much bad as there is good, though some would say its debateable what _is_ good or bad. Anyway though," she breezed, "I just figured that I don't want to spend the next few years repeating coursework for degrees I already have in the future. It's pointless, except my internship." She missed Jane. Jane was her best friend. Darcy didn't care that she'd have to start from the very beginning. It would be worth it.

Coulson still looked sceptical. "Can you offer any proof that you're really from the future?"

Darcy thought it over. She couldn't reveal Hydra. That was a death sentence. _The Avengers, maybe?_ She suddenly eyed Coulson up, grinning as she sat up straight. Her eyes glimmered.

"How about the fact that by two thousand and twelve, Captain America is up and about, walking and talking. Captain America, the Winter Soldier, Falcon and Black Widow were like – in two thousand and sixteen – _the_ group you want to stalk." She made a sound of appreciation, "Gorgeous. Every last one of them." Coulson seemed both excited and confused, about to speak when the door banged open.

"Darcy Lewis, freshman at Culver University, majoring in Political Science and Computer Sciences. You have no particular talents, except backchat according to your old teachers," Nicholas Fury noted, voice strict and harsh, hands clasped behind his back. "You claim to be from the future, and talk about high profile characters as if they were celebrities to be _stalked_." He added the last word mockingly, but Darcy lit up at the sight of the Director.

"Fury! How you doing, Director-man?" The black man stopped short.

"Excuse me? Do I know you?" He raised his eyebrow judgingly. Darcy raised her own.

"I'm from the future – of course you don't." She replied haughtily. "Why are you coming in here to see little old me? Don't you have more important things to be dealing with?"

Fury narrowed his eyes, "What courses did you take in the future?"

Darcy blinked, "Psychology, Child Psychology, Child Development and Political Science. I have a Master Degree in each. Why?"

Fury looked to Coulson. "Get her the theoretical end of year papers for each of those. If she passes them, get everything else falsified to her liking before getting her through a crash-course on how to be a SHIELD Agent."

"Excuse me, what?" Darcy interrupted. "I don't want to be a SHIELD Agent. I'm a civilian, first and foremost."

Fury glared. "I said _how_ to be a SHIELD Agent. I didn't say you _would_ be. You're a security risk as it is. You know things, even if you aren't from the future. You're going to be placed somewhere for your own safety after all this is over."

"But-" she started, only for Fury to interrupt her.

"Your grandmother died from thyroid cancer less than three days ago, your brother, twenty-five days ago in a flight through enemy airspace. Your mother, car crash, your father, practically brain-dead. All other close relatives are either dead or severely estranged. You were home-schooled until High School and even then you graduated from that early. You don't have friends, or anyone else that would miss you. The only ones who would probably _care_ are your professor's at Culver and even then, you haven't exactly been attending long." Fury put his hands on the table between them, leaning over her ominously. "Who would care if you died, even?

Darcy shrunk back in her seat before speaking nervously, "You said something about end of year papers?"

Maybe contacting SHIELD had been a mistake.

* * *

 **AN: I have no idea what goes on in American Air-Force Bases, and am in fact Scottish. Blame any kind of mistakes about it on Wikipedia.**


	3. Chapter 3

There was something about being sequestered in a log cabin in the middle of Norway. It was homey, but there was also that kind of clinical hotel-ness of a clean room and everything being placed _just_ so. The first thing Darcy did after arriving was burn what belongings of her own they'd scattered around the too-big place. There was room for at least six other people here.

Her favourite place was the living room slash kitchen slash dining room. In one wall, there was a big fireplace that went from one end of the wall to the other, with panes of glass above it that were so seamlessly place they looked like one entire pane. Through it she could see forestry and snow and rocks, year-round. On the wall to the left of that was another entirely glass window, except it wasn't entirely glass and was one-third wood, glass and ash panels slatted in a striped pattern, snow white curtains able to be drawn across the entire wall.

In front of the fireplace, in the middle, was a large white fur rug, then one l-shaped, white leather sofa with soft ash-grey throw pillows. In the space left opposite the sofa and between the fireplace, there was a big square TV on a thing, with a video player and DVD player beneath it. Darcy marvelled at the television for a while, before trying to figure out how it works – seemed that having FRIDAY at your command, and downloaded movies did something to how she worked technology.

Behind the sofa, there was a large space, filled with a small, six-person dining table, before there was another gap, that led to a half wall and a set of small steps that went into the kitchen. It was all 'very modern' according to the agents that got her settled, but to Darcy it was outdated. Though, she appreciated the lessons on how to work the burner and oven, as well as the thermostat and air conditioning. In the kitchen, there was a half-island table, which connected to the half-wall overlooking the living dining room. Whenever she ate, she preferred sitting there, looking out on her kingdom of isolation – and yes, that was a Frozen pun. _That_ was how bored she was.

Though to be quite fair, having been in the SHIELD training – meaning lots and lots of physical – and having a sixteen year old body devoid of junk food and extra cholesterol that came from sixteen years of pseudo-adulthood, she had a lot more energy to spare. The maths worked out correctly, at least. But oh, how Darcy missed some yet-to-be-released-music.

The past year she'd spent with SHIELD had been exhausting. When they said 'crash course', what they meant was 'we're going to squeeze ten years worth of agent training into twelve months'. The first things they did was push all laws, rules and handbooks on her and train her with a gun, while also switching all fat for all muscle. The latter continued all throughout the year, but after three months they started training her in beginner self-defence…then basic, then intermediate, then at the end of the year, tentative advanced, but by then her trainers were fed up of her and her snark. Then there was the acting course, but she'd sworn never to speak of it ever again.

In the cabin basement, there was a gym and a firing range, right beside a hidden door she couldn't open or find but _knew_ was there for some reason, and a vault filled with weapons. Yup. Weapons. Of all types – guns, bows, tasers, knives, _swords_ , even axes. She'd already nicked one of the tasers – one of the good ones, with a nice handle – as well as some of the tiny daggers, which she hid all around the cabin. But there wasn't much else. Really. There wasn't even a bookcase, and she couldn't go outside, only open the windows and go onto the balcony on the third floor. But it was cold outside, so she didn't go. All she did every day to stave off the boredom was train, watch the TV and stare at her eyelids for hours on end. Meditation was one of the few ways that she could concentrate on something without getting distracted – and it helped with readjusting her mind to the situation. There was something to be said about the way she time-travelled. It had messed up her psych, for one.

But in any case, she was bored – and she'd only been there two weeks.

Sighing, Darcy walked around the cabin carpet, going heel to toe around the squarish rug, arms out as she balanced on the thick edge. Maybe she'd glide on her socks over the floor panels next.

Then a cry caught her attention, her head twisting to where it came from. She froze at the sight of the baby, its little arms waving about.

"What the…" she turned, kneeling down on the carpet, looking at it in morbid fascination. "You're definitely a boy…" she reached over, picking him and the blanket he'd wriggled free of, twisting it around his body, catching sight of print on the corner. Shifting the keening bundle till she could see it, Darcy flipped it around, eyebrows rising at the Norse. _Learning Norse runes comes in handy,_ she thought with a wry lift of her eyebrow, remembering her Norse Lore at translating the Elder Futhark that shimmered with magic, runes literally drifting around the fabric, soon going out of sight.

"Fenrir. Huh," she looked to the baby, who looked barely a few days old, "why's old Green and Gold dropped you off here?" She flipped her attention back to the baby, putting him down again and redoing his blanket, wary in case he had an accident on her – she didn't exactly have a lot of clothes around. Which reminded her. "I'll have to ask one of the agent's for stuff for you, won't I, puppy?" She grinned at him, noting how she'd changed her voice to amuse him without thinking. "I'm real good at this, aren't I?" She picked him up again, singing Bohemian Rhapsody under her breath to try lull him asleep. She ended up making him smile instead, his cries petering out. "You like that, Fen? Do you like Darcy's singing?" He smiled letting out a gurgle, "Aww, thanks puppy!"

Later, Darcy was in the kitchen, humming and twirling in the kitchen with Fenrir falling asleep on her shoulder, after having fed him some heated full fat milk due to the lack of baby formula, when SHIELD came in through the door. Darcy frowned, but didn't stop humming, only motioning for them to be quiet as they entered. Padding past the island table and down the steps to the dining room part of the living room, she stayed behind the table, waiting a few more seconds before stopping her singing, watching Fenrir for any signs that he was going to wake up.

"Miss Lewis?" The agent who'd taught her how to work the cooker whispered. She nodded for them to continue, silent. "We saw the baby on the CCTV through the windows," the pointed over the fireplace, "and came to see if we needed to…"

Darcy shook her head, "He's a child of a…of a friend," Loki and she had never exchanged any sort of communication before, except once when he kidnapped her with Jane as a hostage, trying to antagonise Thor. He had seemed like a nice bloke to her – just had some daddy issues that would make sense if he had to send his children away to safety. Maybe he sent Fenrir to her because of the high amount of magic used to send her back? Or maybe it was an accident, or, or, or…there were so many reasons why Fenrir might be with her. Most likely, she'd find out when he was older and someone came for him. "His name is Fenrir, and no matter what happens, you aren't allowed his bloodwork or to analyse his DNA in-depth." _Who knows what might happen to the puppy,_ she thought after deciding he was asleep enough to get close to the agents, coming around to sit on the sofa. One came over, flashing a medical ID at her.

"Doctor Vika Mathison. I'd like to take a look at him. May I?" She asked politely, accent giving away her Norwegian ancestry. She had soft blonde hair pulled back in a practical pony-tail, and wore the typical black SHIELD jumpsuit, except had a distinct lack of protective gear and body-forming lycra. She could be mistaken for a cyclist, if not for the SHIELD logo emblazoned on her left arm, and the medical sign beneath.

Darcy watched as she opened her bag, showing the basic things to look over someone – stethoscope, torch, wooden spatula things, the ear things. Nodding, she carefully shifted him so he could lie across her knees, one of her hands going to hold his head, the other on his chest. The doctor looked over him methodically, but gently and slowly, making sure not to wake him.

"What has he had to eat since he appeared?"

"Just some milk. I heated it up."

The agent behind the doctor motioned to the others with her, who all held bags and boxes. "We have some things to help out. One of the rooms would be set up as a nursery if you'd like to look after him." Darcy was never so grateful the agent knew to treat her for what she was – a thirty-two year old probably older than half the rookies in the room. She knew they were new just by looking at them. Also, normal SHIELD agents wouldn't be dragged along to go through the horror that was IKEA furniture, most likely.

"I'll keep him. From what I know of his mum, his…" her lip twisted, because mythos insinuated Fenrir and his siblings were born _of_ Loki, never really specifying whether Sigyn and Angrboda were the mothers. She had to wonder if Jormungandr was hatched from an egg or not, "…dad, isn't around, and if they are, well, he's with me now."

"You want to adopt him?" The doctor asked, sounding pleased. "I'm sure papers could be sorted out."

Darcy hummed, "How old would you say he is?"

The doctor shrugged, "Oh, I don't know, less than a day. Maybe three, four hours, except there's no umbilical cord. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I _have_ been missing for a year." She smirked, the doctor's eyes glimmering.

"Really? Well, you're in fine shape for a new mother, Miss Lewis." She glanced at the agent, who inclined her head.

"Officially, it could be the story – we can archive the footage of him appearing and make some… _adjustments_ , to her paperwork." The three shared a look, the doctor laughing slightly before the other agents headed towards the rooms. "As your handler, I'll request the changes be made." They opened their briefcase, passing over a few sheets of paper and a pen from their jacket pocket. "Here. I was prepared for any possibility. Don't fill in what you don't know," they advised as Darcy set them on the sofa to her left, one handedly looking through them, eyes widening as the reality set in.

"I'm having a child of my own," she breathed in, swallowing before shaking her head and clicking the pen left-handedly – yay for being ambidextrous – and putting down her name, full name, date of birth and occupation – 'Darcy Lewis', 'Maria Darcy Lewis-Romanov', June 13th 1985, 'Consultant to Government Agency' – with a slight smile before getting down to business. She skipped place of birth and Fenrir's gender and name for the moment, writing down the day's date – February 2nd, 2001 – for date of birth, and carefully wrote in Elder Futhark Loki's name – Loki Odinson, because no way was he Laufeyson, not when he'd been adopted by a bloody King of Asgard – leaving Loki's date of birth carefully blank before writing in occupation, 'Prince of Asgard'. Then she actually wrote down Fenrir's personal details, putting down MALE and then starting on Fenrir's name-

Only to come up blank for a second name, and first name. In her family, it was traditional to be named something normal, but for your actual name to be your middle name. Like how she was actually Maria, but called Darcy by everyone and the internet, and how Darius had been Henry Darius. She would be signing up to Facebook as soon as. Her eyebrows knit together. She'd have to give him her last name – Lewis – so she could differentiate. Fenrir Lokison would be his public name, the one he knew himself by. In documents though he'd have to be something Fenrir Lewis-

"Darius," she suddenly muttered, shifting Fenrir on her lap slightly as she leant over the papers, "Henry Fenrir Lewis…" She wrote it down, before handing the files over to the agent, who glanced at the papers.

"Henry?"

"Fenrir," she corrected, before they frowned.

"'Maria Darcy Lewis-Romanov'? I thought you were just Darcy Lewis?"

Darcy peered at them curiously, "Isn't it on your files? It's my full name. I was adopted when I was a baby. I have dual nationality because of it. American Russian." At that, the agent peered at her curiously, frown deepening.

"I'll look into getting our systems corrected. Why name him Henry Fenrir if you're just going to call him Fenrir?" The doctor at that, glanced up curiously. Darcy glanced at them, winking.

"No reason. The father's a bit of a mischief maker, is all." Picking Fenrir up from her knees, she shifted him onto her shoulder, glancing at the large spiral staircase leading upstairs to the rooms. "How long do you bet till they start swearing?"

"Oh, less than ten minutes." The doctor put in. Calmly, the agent smirked.

"Two seconds."

Cue the muffled " _Fuck! Why is this so fucking hard?!_ "


	4. Chapter 4

Darcy had a good time looking after Fenrir. It _was_ tiring, and it _was_ messy, and she did have a breakdown at one point while hugging the month old child to her chest, but she got through it. She'd make formula bottles in bulk and go through washing while Fenrir slept, doing chores and thanking the agents profusely for only getting three different coloured baby things – white, green and blue – and foregoing patterns no matter how cute they were. For a while she found herself doing so much just for one child that she dreaded if his supposed siblings showed up out of the blue, but forgot to worry about that when Fenrir hit the nine month mark and was walking, running and climbing stairs. She just found herself lucky she'd taken so many photos on her flip-phone throughout the last near-year before she was supplied with Kodak cameras by the agents.

He called her Mama on his first birthday, when her handler – who she finally found out was called Agent Billy Koenig – and his six identical brothers – called Sam, Joe, Connor, Dean, Fred and Eric – came with presents and cake. He'd given her so many presents – his first steps, his first smile, his first laugh – and been given so many presents himself – such as toys, and what seemed to be hundreds of blankets which she'd thrown into a corner of Fenrir's nursery to lie down in instead of a rocking chair or the more convenient armchair opposite it – but that word, calling her Mama over and over again made her day.

The next year and a half was filled with milestones, and her photographers camera – a gift from Agent Coulson to the both of them on Christmas, a very-much appreciated replacement for the flip-phone and bazillion one-dollar Kodak cameras – was a boon. Soon, more and more pictures filled the house, better ones going in frames, others going in albums no matter how awkward or embarrassing. The cabin became a home, and at that point Darcy didn't even notice her claustrophobia, even when thick ski suits and boots were given to them both so she could take him sledging. Fenrir loved the snow, as it turned out, even turned a literal blue, with red eyes and raised markings, but it was wearing shoes that was weird – for them both. Darcy had been wearing socks for the entire two and a half years they'd lived there.

It was also on Christmas that Darcy discovered something Fenrir had been hiding. He was literate. He could read everything, understand adult grammar and concepts, and relied on the non-fiction material she'd been given so she could study something other than Fenrir and housekeeping in her spare time. It caused an entire room to be converted into a reading room, with a library with bookshelves wall to wall, the blanket pile moving to the middle of the room along with a few larger blankets to make up the bulk of the comfy resting place.

And then on July twenty-third, 2003, another baby appeared – a girl, this time. Hel. Once again, the agents came and Darcy adopted her, but this time not without hesitance. Fenrir was her son, her baby, and she'd never give him up, but two? Without help?

Her answer came in the secret door in the basement.

As it turned out, the cabin had been built specifically for her, right over a hidden base of Fury's – the same super-secret base that Agent Coulson would use as the new HQ for SHIELD. Agent Koenig – Billy – headed the base, and after making her go through a lie detector, gave her a lanyard. Then, he made Fenrir go through it too, asking him the same questions – except for the last one, asking instead of the island question, whether he preferred his mama's cooking or take-out, which he brought over sometimes. Darcy had been happily upset to find he preferred take-out, knowing her cooking was decent at best. Having gained their lanyards, they would periodically visit the 'playground' as Fenrir liked to call it, having not got one of his own and having seen them on TV, with baby Hel…and then with baby Sleipnir too.

He wasn't a horse, just like Hel wasn't half-dead. Nope.

Sleipnir appeared about two months after Hel did, on October twenty-fifth, and it was more difficult to explain him on paper than it was the others, until they decided to make Hel premature but not needing to go into an NICU, unlike her brother. With the three of them together though, appearance-wise it was difficult to see how they were related unless, like Darcy, you had seen their father, and what Fenrir looked like as a baby. Fenrir himself was olive-skinned and blue-eyed, with a mop of dark brown hair and soft, rounded features. In him, Darcy could pick out Loki's eyebrows, ears – when they could be seen – eyes and slight build.

Hel was like Fenrir, with dark brown hair, and for a baby, it was quite thick, so Darcy loved to brush it, and shared all Fenrir's soft features except his nose, Hel's being turned up slightly and a touch closer to her eyes, her entire head rounder in shape in comparison to Fenrir's oval. A difference though between them was Hel's dark brown eyes, almost black in appearance, thin and slanted, while her mouth was full of milky-white teeth, unlike Fenrir, who like a human was still growing them in, his canines suspiciously – _hilariously_ – sharp.

Sleipnir was odd in comparison to his siblings, but looked so much more like his father. With wispy, white blonde hair, and large blue eyes, he had his father's heavy, sharp cheekbones and eyes that crinkled at the sides in the same way. Like Hel, all his teeth were grown in, but were fanged – each and every one of them – and secreted a vicious liquid that destroyed what metal – and only metal – it touched. He was by far though the largest baby, not fat – Fenrir was longer in body, but Hel smaller than them both, with a propensity to curl up, concealing deceptively long arms and legs.

It was hard to raise them all. Fenrir terrified her one day though, by hiding away in the bowels of the Playground – note the capitalised P, because Fury found it hilarious and made it official – among files from the days of the SSR. When they finally found him, Hel and Sleipnir being looked after by Agent Connor Koenig, who came in all the way from South America, Darcy actually cried.

"Why did you hide, Fen? Mommy was so scared," she sobbed, only for the boy to speak quietly.

"You don't love me anymore. You've got Lucy Hel and Phillip Sleipnir."

Darcy pulled away slightly, looking him in the eyes as she tried to remember her Child Psychology course, failing and deciding to wing it.

"I love you. Why would you think that? Am I not spending enough time with you? Did they get a book you want me to read to you despite the fact you can read the Iliad by yourself if you wanted to?" The near-three year old looked at her solemnly.

"They take up too much time. I need to go so you can look after them. They have to grow up like I did, knowing someone loves them before that someone leaves."

Darcy felt an expletive about to leave her lips and bit her tongue, swallowing, "Fenrir, you're my son, my baby boy. I will _never_ stop loving you. I _will_ be spending more time with you, I promise. Hel and Sleipnir right now though are babies – they can't get themselves their own juice or animal crackers like you can," she shared a small grin with him, "Remember animal crackers? We pick out all the different animals and then eat them each in whatever order you want!" Fenrir's expression didn't change. "Come on, puppy," she lost her enthusiasm, kissing his forehead sweetly. "Now you're gonna come with me, and you're gonna help me."

"Help with what? Lucy Hel and Phillip Sleipnir?"

Darcy stood, picking him up and swinging him onto her hip. "Hel and Sleipnir. Not Lucy Hel, or Phillip Sleipnir – Hel and Sleipnir. Do you want me to call to Henry Fenrir?" He shook his head. "Good. In this family, it's middle names only, and titles."

"Like Mama?"

She nodded again, "Yes, like Mama. You ever call me anything different, and I'll be on your case," she gave him a mock-serious face, which caused his blank expression to twist into a more funny, mock solemn look.

"Yes Mama."

She grinned, "Good, because Mama's coming to get you!" She started to tickle him, causing his composure to break as he giggled, laugh echoing through Vault D before Darcy started walking back.


	5. Chapter 5

After that incident, Darcy made special care to include Fenrir with Hel and Sleipnir, asking him to hug Hel while she fed Sleipnir, and vice versa and similar. He came to enjoy looking after them, even when they cried – he especially knew how to handle Hel. His adored her, but loved Sleipnir just as much, promising to teach him to do stuff like how to sledge, and build towers with Lego, and after finding both of his siblings could turn blue the Christmas following, made a solemn oath to make sure Humans Other Than Mama never saw them. That had been a rule Darcy enforced ever since she saw his skin tinge the year passed, and convinced her to start hacking the cameras that looked in through the windows and out onto their usual snow-play area, whenever they went outside – which wasn't much, but still enough.

Soon though, once more, Darcy found herself facing the problem that was her children growing up, learning at the same rate as Fenrir, but choosing to retain their childlike mentality. Apparently, Fenrir's maturity was just Fenrir being Fenrir, because his brother and sister were both more childlike than he had been since his first year and a half.

It was on Fenrir's fifth birthday though, that there was a child's first piece of magic.

Fenrir had been playing with some of his new Lego, building a horse when it happened. Sleipnir apparently enjoyed his brother's creation, clapping and giggling as the Koenig's sat on the sofa all in a big row with Darcy on the shorter corner, some other agents sitting around chatting quietly, Fenrir explaining in depth why each piece had to go where on his first absurd-looking creation, then magnificent. Sleipnir however, seemed to enjoy it so much that he both shouted out his command and magicked the finished piece.

"Horse has to run!" He exclaimed, before his blue eyes lit up green, the lego shimmering before the creation twisted, rearing up on its hind legs and neighing, running around the room. Immediately there were shocked gasps, before Darcy let out a whoop.

"Yay! Go Sleipnir! Woo!" She got off the sofa, picking up her blonde child and swinging him around. "I'm so proud of you, Trojy! First piece of magic – that I know of – and I got to see it!" Sleipnir giggled himself, before Darcy rubbed their noses together, kissing his face all over. "You-" kiss "-are-" kiss "-amazing! Do you know that?"

Sleipnir giggled once more, "Horsey has to run!" He twisted around to look at the horse, which was running around the carpet, weaving through the impressive Lego towers that Fenrir had made and brought through to show everybody. Putting him down, Darcy looked to Fenrir, who was beaming with pride at his younger brother's creation.

"Miss Darcy?" One of the Koenig's caught her attention, "What is that?"

"Yeah, how is the horse moving on its own?"

Darcy glanced at each other speakers, before speaking magnificently, holding her arms out majestically, "That's magic, my dear Koenig-agents, magic that _my_ son – my son, guys – caused to happen." She crossed her arms, unbearably smug before she remembered, "Damnit! I didn't catch it on camera!" She whined, before looking to Hel, who was asleep over in a random not-Koenig's lap. "Hey, you! How's the princess of death?"

The brunette stranger gave a tight smile, "Cold, ma'am."

"Cold?" One of the other agents asked mildly. The brunette lifted the girl off her lap slightly, showing the frost-covered towel that was steaming. Darcy grimaced.

"Oh no, she's sick. Dammit. Better get her off to bed, before Sleip or Fen catch it."

"Ill?!" The brunette exclaimed as Darcy came over, fringe coming out of her kerbies slightly – which prompted a unintelligible sound to escape the glasses-wearing girl.

"Maria Hill?" She stopped in front of her, taking her fringe out of her kerbies, pressing it down against her forehead. "Maria! It's you!" She took Hel off her lap, noting her butt-long hair had fallen out of its braid, the crinkly remains of the once-fresh flowers scattered through the locks, before she turned to the Koenig's. "Handler-Koenig! Does Hill know about my situation?"

One of them – presumably Billy – shook his head, looking serious. "No. No-one but us, Director Fury, Agent Coulson and Agent Hand know of your claims, Miss Darcy."

Darcy pouted, before adjusting her grip on Hel, focusing her face away from her body before grabbing the frozen towel and marching towards the stairs. "I'll be back in a bit." She started up the staircase, only to hear the pitter patter of feet behind her. She turned her head back, only to see a worried Fenrir. "Fen, can you watch Sleipnir for me please? Hel's ill, so I'm going to run her a bath, okay?"

Fenrir's worried face didn't dissipate, but he nodded, not following as she went upstairs, going all the way up to the third floor to her private bathroom. In the past, the kids had been ill before like this for two weeks, and Dr Mathison – their personal doctor, for things Darcy didn't know how to handle, like the first sprained wrist from Sleipnir just half a year prior – hadn't been able to help a lot, until she told her the reason why you were supposed to wrap up when you had a fever. The heat basically burned off whatever virus was in your system, so for children who were naturally freezing when not pink-skinned, it was probably the opposite. Which brought the idea of an ice bath.

Running the cold tap after plugging the bath, Darcy placed the comatose Hel – and she _was_ comatose, not that poor Maria Hill had known – on the fluffy bathmat before opening the always-running freezer in the corner, bringing out a dozen ice-cube trays, putting all of the ice-cubes into the water. Then, keeping an eye on the water level, she rolled a towel around the frozen towel that Maria had used, before placing it in the freezing water, shutting off the water and draining some so there was barely half a foot.

"Okay, time for an ice-bath, princess…" she muttered, before lifting Hel cautiously and undressing her, placing her in the ice-water. Immediately it started to freeze over, confirming Darcy's suspicion that she was close to losing her glamour. As predicted, less than a minute later, she turned blue. Knowing there was nothing more she could do, she turned on the soft lighting, turning off the big, bright lights and shutting the curtain over the opaque window glass, going back down to the party.

"Is she okay?" Fenrir asked when she returned. She shrugged.

"A bit blue, but she'll cheer up in a few hours. You'll go check for me, right?" He nodded, because they both knew if she went to check, she'd get frostbite for just touching her. Last time, Darcy had nearly lost a finger.

No-one got sick from being around Hel after that, but two years afterwards, less than a month before Fenrir's seventh birthday, the fourth child arrived, and _gods_ , was he beautiful. Looking after Jormungandr made Darcy remember how hard raising a young child was, even though, now, with three children under her belt, it was easier. Like with Fenrir, and with Hel and with Sleipnir, she signed all the papers – naming him Edward Jormungandr Lewis after her father – and redesigned the second-to-last spare bedroom into a nursery, getting lots of new baby clothes due to having gotten rid of the old ones and sorting through all the kids' toys and belongings, having a spring cleaning as it were, during the winter.

Darcy barely remembered why she didn't have kids in the last timeline. It was probably something to do with her lack of partner, but oh well – fun sex was a lot more fun than I-want-a-child sex anyway. Probably. Most likely.


	6. Chapter 6

Around that time, Tony Stark was kidnapped. It put things into perspective, and Darcy realised that, by now, Jane would have started working with Erik.

She started listening to the news more, watching the Hulk destroy Harlem and finding out through Billy that Captain America had been found in the ice – and she got into shape again. It was disappointing how much muscle Darcy'd lost in the past eight years – and _wow_ was it that long? She turned twenty-two/thirty-nine in June. She wasn't able to work on her gun skills due to the noise-level and the constant companion that was Jor, but she was later on, about two weeks after Tony Stark returned to American soil. She also decided to revise her old subjects, requesting some remedial course-work from the teachers at Culver who, in her old time-line, would have probably laughed at the sight of Darcy Lewis' email in their inbox _requesting_ more work.

It also inspired her to hit the books on some other things – such as Russian. While she'd given up the search for her biological parents way before the point she even arrived back in time, it was nice to have something to connect to them. Learning the language was a pain, but she had a knack for it, and it turned out that so did her children. Together, they all became multi-lingual, Darcy deciding that she would revise the Spanish she'd learnt in High School – and had actually passed with flying colours, thank you very much – and teaching them at the same time. Before they moved onto another language though, they _moved_.

Chaos was one word for it.

Fury had decided too many people knew where her home was, so it was a security risk to keep it there any longer. Bye-bye log cabin, hello New York. Coulson himself came to pick them up, the Koenig's nearly-forever disappearing from their lives, promising only ever to meet them on xBox – something Darcy both disproved and approved of, seeing as it was her own idea, having known in the future they would enjoy it.

A plus was that she finally had her iPod. Her _iPod_. The kids each got one too, including Jor for when he was older. In her mind, due to the iPod and her new smart-phone, despite the memories that went with their home, it more than made up for it – and her kids even got their own new-home presents. Fenrir got to start judo, karate, swimming and fencing lessons, and permission to take the ten minute walk to New York Public Library to study providing he have his phone on at all times, and to always chain his bike up with two different locks. Oh yeah, he got a bike – a really expensive BMX that was a bit too big for him that Darcy picked out because she knew how popular BMX's were going to be in a year or two. Sleipnir and Hel were five by the time they were settled in New York, so they got bikes too – but only the cheapy crappy ones that they'd grow out of real fast that they could learn on, and they got swimming lessons as well, and judo. The place they had was good, and even had its own garden. The only set back was the fact that the top floor – a tall attic – was off-limits as it was used by SHIELD as both a safe-house and a temporary mission base for small-time crews.

Jormungandr was about six months before his new new nursery was done. Darcy was pissed for a while after she realised her effort in the cabin was for nothing and was determined to make the new nursery even better, deciding instead of blue, she was going with dark pink, because dark pink was awesome and the years of equality were coming so pink wasn't automatically a girl colour when faced with blue. It was also about the time she met Tony Stark for the first time in this timeline.

In the last timeline, Darcy could remember their meeting very well. He'd complimented her bust and her skills in hacking SHIELD during the battle of New York when no-one was watching the screens, and that was that before he went to Science! with Jane. It was a bit different this time around.

"Phillip Sleipnir Lewis! Get back here right now!" She shouted as Sleipnir rode on ahead through central park, Hel right behind him as Fenrir did tricks away with some other kids out on the green. "Hel! You and your brother back here _now!_ " Darcy swore under her breath, ignoring how other parents gave her reprimanding looks for calling Hel's name. Luckily, they'd been heading towards their brother, who had left his group for the moment to catch his breath. "Sleipnir and Hel Lewis," she reprimanded as they came to a stop, trying to talk to Fenrir as he fisted his stomach, wheezes audible, "I _told_ you not to ride away."

But then Hel turned, her face panicked, "Fenrir can't breathe!" Darcy immediately turned her attention to Fenrir, feeling a cold-like dread seep up through her chest.

"Fen…Fenrir," she came over, manoeuvring past the bikes to get to him, kneeling in front of him as he wheezed, sagging. "Fenrir!" She started to panic, putting him to the ground gently, putting Jormungandr down in a gap between the bikes. "Sleipnir, sit with Jormungandr, Hel, move the bikes – Fenrir, I need you to look at me, look at mommy." He met her gaze, and Darcy could see him going blue – and not the Frost Giant kind of blue.

"Shit, Fenrir!" She hissed, taking out her phone, only to see it was dead. "Dammit!" She rifled through his pockets, trying to find his smartphone. "Fenrir, where's your phone?" She looked around, seeing how Fenrir's companions looked on with confusion. "I need someone to call an ambulance! Get help!" She looked around, noting the bikes were in a pile, subtly locked in place by an ice-cube. _Good girl, princess._ "HELP! SOMEONE CALL NINE ONE ONE!" Thinking logically, it was probably an asthma attack, which still wasn't very good. _Stay calm on the outside, Lewis, don't panic Fenrir any further._ She looked down at Fenrir as people started to crowd around them, less than a fifth with phones to their ears.

There was suddenly a sound – a familiar, goddamn sound that Darcy couldn't place, and a loud thump, before a familiar voice cut through the chatter and shouting.

"Let me through, please, I can get him to the nearest hospital!" Darcy looked up, only to be greeted by Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit. Thinking back to what he said, she nodded, sitting him up.

"His name is Fenrir, Henry Fenrir Lewis. He's never had an attack like this before, ever. He was on his BMX when it happened. If it gets bad, contact Doctor Vika Mathison. She's his specialist. I can pay for any treatment, but if anything is actually, _actually_ wrong with him, it _has_ to be her."

Stark nodded, picking him up, "I'll take him to Mount Sinai Hospital on Madison Avenue. It's closest so you can get there quick." Darcy nodded, before the mask shut and he lifted off. Immediately the other children jumped on her, Jormungandr crawling over onto her lap.

"Are you alright?" Someone asked, causing her to shake her head.

"No, thank-you. I need to get to Mount Sinai Hospital." She looked to Hel, whispering, "Can you melt the ice?" She nodded slightly, and then the bikes moved a touch, the ice disappearing. Adjusting her grip on Jor, Darcy leant over, righting Sleipnir's bike. "Sleipnir." The blonde sniffled.

"Is Fenrir going to be alright? Where's he going?"

"He's going to hospital, and we're going to go see him, but you need to get on your bike, trojy." She gave a watery smile, kissing his blonde fringed forehead. He sniffled again and hugged her, Darcy pressing her face into his neck until he let go, taking his bike. A similar hug happened with Hel before she got her bike too, the two young ones riding slowly, worried expressions on their faces as Darcy brought up Fenrir's bike, leading it by the handle in the direction of Mount Sinai.


	7. Chapter 7

Despite having to walk to the hospital, the wait was still quite long before they got into Fenrir's room, where he sat with Tony Stark by his bedside, the latter listening to his detailed instructions on his amazing Lego creations.

"Fenrir!" Hel exclaimed before she and her brother scrambled to join him on the bed, climbing up the bars beneath to his covers. Darcy remained cool and steady, swallowing the lump in her throat as she walked around the bed, depositing Jor inbetween Fenrir's legs, kissing his forehead before turning to the man, walking a few steps away with him.

"Thank-you."

He shrugged, holding the Iron Man helmet under his arm, "It was nothing. Kids are priceless."

"You should think about having some with Pepper," a smirk curved it's way onto her face, despite his narrowed eyes.

"Before, you said something about SHIELD…"

Her smirk didn't fade at all, "Yeah, I did. Got a problem with that?"

He gave her a distrustful look, "You're an agent?"

"No, Consultant," she motioned to Fenrir, "Where else would he get his smarts? According to an old adversary of his father, said father's brain is a bag full of cats. You can 'smell crazy on him'." Dr Banner was surprisingly good for a scientist – he knew he had to eat and sleep, _and_ was a genius too. Sometimes, he could even get Jane to stop Sciencing! for over forty-eight hours.

"Crazy, eh? What did you do?" Stark suddenly smirked, looking her up and down, glancing at her kids, who were talking rapidly to Fenrir in Russian, "I can just imagine you banging some Russian Mafia boss now." But then, all of a sudden, he stopped, squinting at her. "…Why do you look freakily like Romanoff?"

"Romanoff?" She raised an eyebrow, "You talking about Natasha? Redhead? Super-hot? Want to bang her gorgeous?"

Stark looked uneasy at her words, "Yeah, that one. You sure you're not related?"

Darcy shrugged, Koenig's surprise at her adoption coming to mind, "If she is, she's gotten rid of all the evidence. But yeah, thank-you."

Stark glanced at Fenrir, "Asthma attack. The doc's want to talk to you – they said to me that he'll be here overnight though. I paid for your bill in advanced, and his prescription for the next ten years."

"What if the prescription changes?"

"I'll keep paying." He replied, face blank. Darcy felt her heart warm, feeling a slight sense of relief. _Ten years. That's well past Hydra's reappearance._

"What can I do to make my guilt at your paying for it feel better?" Despite her usual selfishness, this wasn't something light on her heart, like an unlimited gift card from iTunes might be.

The billionaire shrugged, "I don't know. I'm not that into reunions, though…" he looked her up and down, making her glare.

"Hey! Not a piece of meat, thank-you. And there has to be something."

"Let me pay for their college tuition?" He offered jokingly. She shook her head, rolling her eyes.

"I will be taking you up on that, because I know you can afford it, but still, Fenrir could have suffocated. He could have died. What can I do?"

Stark shook his head, going to leave, "There's nothing I want from you-"

Darcy put a hand out, stopping him, impatient, "I know that. But I don't like owing favours. It's a debt I don't want on my ledger, thank-you very much. You might be good sometimes, but you can be just as much, if not more of an asshole. There's a reason I'm under SHIELD's protection, and it's not because of my children, though they're in just as much, if not more danger than me."

At that, Stark looked her in the eye, "How are they in danger? Just who exactly _is_ their father?"

Darcy glanced around, before hissing at him, "If you want to know, wait until April of two thousand and twelve. You'll meet him then, if the time-line stays unchanged. Even by accidentally coming back, I've already changed so much you don't even _know_ , Tony." She made a frustrated face, even as his brows knit together, "Look, if you want to go, I won't stop you, but I want either this relationship cut completely now, with the exception of Fenrir's medication and their college tuition, or you somehow make me useful, because I'll be damned if I come out of eight fucking years of isolation from the rest of the world and not get something out of it. SHIELD isn't letting me do anything in this fucking city that doesn't include my children. When I'm not out getting groceries or picking them up, I am on house arrest. You are the _only_ person I know powerful and arrogant enough to go up against SHIELD and get away with it."

There was a stony silence before Stark barked out, "Qualifications that matter. Go."

"Political Science, three languages, basic hacking, Sarcasm, scientist's babysitter," she listed in one breath.

"Scientist's babysitter? And are you a time traveller?" He questioned rapidly.

Her mouth curved bitterly, "In two thousand and eleven I'll be going to be an intern with Dr Jane Foster. Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Trust me when I say aliens exist and that they've perfected it already. She'll become Earth's first creator of intergalactic travel. She also forgets to eat, drink and sleep. At present, she's been hospitalised twice already because she Scienced too much."

"That presumably stopped when you joined her?" She nodded. "You're hired. Make me eat at least two healthy meals in twenty-four hours, and all that other bullshit. You have permission to override JARVIS at any time, provided it's either life or death, or because I'm gone into the Zone. Privileges are as follows. Access to Stark Mansion and other Stark Properties provided I am in them at the time, access to my private jet, access to your own personal bank card, sleepover rights which come with your own suite with room for the kids, and I pay for everything related to these guys here. Downside is that in my terms, the pay is stupid."

"So in my terms, I'm about to become rich?"

He raised a finger, "And you have to tell me at least one truth about the future every month, when I ask. I won't ask about a specific subject, but if I do, you have to answer _somehow._ "

Darcy fell silent, weighing his words.


	8. Chapter 8

"Are you Mrs Lewis?" Someone interrupted before she could answer. Darcy glanced at them, putting a finger up for one second, looking back at Tony.

"That's a deal, and while I know you'll push boundaries, please know I'm not a pushover. Imagine me as the pop-culture version of Pepper." Tony blanched and Darcy nodded, before turning to the doctor, "It's Miss Lewis, but yeah. You can call me Miss Lewis, though I don't mind Ms Lewis. Is Fenrir okay?"

The doctor came forward, looking down at his clipboard, "Harry Fenrir Lewis?"

"Henry Fenrir Lewis." She corrected. He nodded, writing it down.

"Our apologies. When Mr Lewis came into our hospital, he was confirmed as asthmatic and given a dose of medication from a bronchodilator. It's otherwise known as a rescue inhaler. Because of how severe the asthma attack was, we're recommending he stay the night. You're welcome to stay with him, though it might be a good idea to give the younger children to a family friend or relative if you are." He glanced at Stark, who shrugged, waving.

"I'm dear old Uncle Tony to the brats."

Darcy elbowed him lightly, knowing that with the suit on, she'd hurt herself more than him if she hit hard. "Those 'brats' have supersonic hearing, _Uncle Tony_." She glanced over, and indeed, they were glaring at their _dear, old Uncle Tony._ Tony himself seemed disturbed by their glaring. "Kids, be nice. He's going to be looking after you while I stay with Fenrir." Instantly there were complaints, but she cut them off with a single look.

"Where can I learn to do that?" Tony questioned, only to be ignored as Darcy talked more with the doctor, who came closer and included Fenrir as he started talking about different inhalers and their effects. "Anyone listening?" Sighing, he sat down on his chair again, bored, putting on his helmet and talking through it to JARVIS, phoning Pepper.

While everyone talked, Hel peered at the suit, before clambering off Fenrir onto the Iron Man suit, sitting on Tony's knee and putting her face to the arc reactor.

" _Sir, there seems to be a small child on your lap,_ " JARVIS spoke inside the suit as the phone-call to Pepper ended. Tony immediately looked down, only to see Hel still staring at the light, fascinated. " _I do not recommend moving, sir. You may dislodge her._ "

"This is not good…JARVIS, what do I do?!"

" _Do not move, sir. Relevant studies on young children's behaviour suggests she is merely curious as to where the light of the arc reactor is coming from._ "

Hel looked up, "Your AI is polite," she said in a curious voice. "In Portal, GLaDOS isn't as nice."

Tony put the face-plate up, "You could hear him? Do you really have super-sonic hearing? Is that why your mom's so secretive?"

"Mama's got nice hair." Hel reached up, tracing his beard, "Your face hair is funny. Why do you have face hair? Uncle Billy and his brothers didn't have face hair, or any of the Uncle Agents. I keep seeing men with face-hair, but I'm not allowed to look. Mama says staring at people's not allowed, because it's rude, but she stares at the people on TV when they look real pretty." She frowned, poking him. "Why do you have face hair? I want face hair." She asked, impatient.

"You didn't really give me a chance to answer," Tony replied, finding himself absolutely fascinated with the small creature in front of him. "I have face hair because I grew it, like how you grow your hair. Men grow it on their faces as well as their heads, but girls don't. You wouldn't want face hair- I mean, it's a beard, and a moustache. You wouldn't want a beard and moustache. It's prickly and you have to make sure it's perfect every morning and night before you go to bed."

Hel frowned. "Which one's a moustache and which one's a beard?"

It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

 **AN: Hey people. Thanks for reading, and now comes the part where I give you some basics so you can get your heads screwed on correctly regarding the time-line of this fic.**

 _ **Birthdays (using the term loosely)**_

 **Henry FENRIR Lewis: _February 2nd, 2001_**

 **Lucy HEL Lewis: _July 23rd, 2003_**

 **Phillip SLEIPNIR Lewis: _August 25th, 2003_**

 **Edward JORMUNGANDR Lewis: _January 18th, 2008_**

 **Maria DARCY LEWIS-Romanov: June 13th, 1985 ( _yes, that does make her sixteen when she adopts Fenrir. That was the plan, but remember she was actually thirty-one years old, in her head. In the original MCU, by the time Thor arrived around, she would have been twenty-six. In this 'verse, by that time she would still be that bodily, but in reality, forty-one, mentally._ )**

 **...**

 **Some other familial things to note: Henry Darius Lewis was Darcy's brother in this fic, and worked in the RAF. He's dead, and so is her mother - unnamed - via car crash. Darcy's father - as yet unnamed - is in a coma/vegative state. Darcy's grandmother, referenced to as 'Meemaw', died from thyroid cancer vaguely a year before Fenrir's appearance - so somewhere in early 2000.**

 **Some different things to note: This fic will veer from canon, but not enough so that the timeline up until the sofa scene in _Avengers: Age of Ultron_ , is completely destroyed. Laura Barton and her kids still exist. Bobbi Morse and Lance are still a thing, but no way is all the piff - that I have no idea if is canon because as of 11/12/2015 by Greenwich Mean Time, I haven't watched AOS Season 2 - about Skye and Electro-dude. Feel free to ask questions. **


	9. Chapter 9

Darcy knew, as the time got closer to when she'd have to fake being an intern for Jane, that there was something up with Jormungandr. Or rather there was something completely modern going on with Jormungandr – the kind of modern that wouldn't become casual, or common until two thousand and fifteen, when gay marriage was made legal in fifty states. Maybe it was because she painted his room pink, but for some reason, Darcy had a nagging feeling there was something more to the way that Jor acted. It was how he walked, how he talked, how he acted around the other boys and how he reacted around Hel.

One day, when Tony had come around, sober, as per their newest agreement for when he watched the kids, she took Jormungandr off to see Dr Mathison. It was soon confirmed.

"Jormungandr is a transsexual," Darcy repeated, sitting back in her chair as Dr Mathison redressed the child for her. "Gods, I've been raising him- her, them? as a male. There's something wrong about that – they should know themselves to be both, not just one."

Dr Mathison looked distinctly uncomfortable now. "Miss Darcy, if you don't mind me asking, but…why are you even talking like that? Shouldn't…shouldn't you be…be…"

Darcy immediately looked at her piercingly, "Shouldn't I be what? Getting him 'fixed'? There's nothing wrong with him. Gender is a human concept. Sleipnir has venomous teeth, for gods sake. Hel makes plants die around her if she's around them too long. Fenrir has more canines than he should. The fact that Jor is a girl and a boy shouldn't faze you."

Dr Mathison glared lightly, "It doesn't, I'm just not comfortable around people who can't seem to decide."

"You're a medical professional!" Darcy hissed angrily, motioning to Jormungandr, who was now playing with a toy train on the ground, "He is a child! You _know_ he doesn't have a choice, and even if there _is_ one, he's not young enough to make it! Now tell me, as a medical professional, is there any medication he- _they,_ should be taking to even out his hormone levels or anything?"

Dr Mathison pursed her lips, "He's too young right now, legally. Fourteen years of age is when he could decide if he wanted to remain as he is, or take supplements to become more or less of one gender."

"They," Darcy spat, " _they_. Say it."

" _They._ " Mathison glared hard, before taking off her rubber gloves with a _snap_ , throwing them in the bin. "Now get out of my office, and pay the bill with my secretary."

Darcy stood, picking up Jormungandr and leaving, taking the toy train with them out of spite. Over the next few months, it would be difficult for both her and the rest of her family. Hel and Sleipnir didn't really understand, but picked it up the quickest, while Fenrir tried, but slipped up a lot. Tony himself switched between the pronouns enough to satisfy her for now, but Darcy was trying to work with him, knowing – as a Child Psychologist, though not practicing as of yet, for she had a dream now – it could hurt Jor in the long run.

But the time between then and seeing Jane again grew shorter, and Darcy kept thinking on it, despite it being years away. Jor's second birthday passed, then Fenrir's tenth, her own twenty-fifth slash fortieth – _ugh_ – then Hel and Sleipnir's seventh. Six months till Thor crash-landed, which was why she decided to look into Jane via Tony.

"Why are we looking into this?" Tony asked her when she requested it. She shrugged as she brushed through Hel's hair, braiding it back, wondering why – out of all of Loki's children – that the one connected to the dead could look like Lilo at times, while also looking like Stitch at others.

"Remember what I told you about babysitting Scientists?"

"Oh yeah, this the wormhole-through-space fanatic?"

"Yep. Got anything?"

"She's looking for an intern."

Darcy finished Hel's braid, glancing over, "I need you to recall that intern stuff from where she's sent it, and block the regrets replies. Then sign me up. Pretend I'm going to Culver University for my poli-science degree and say I need six credits. There you go, princess." Hel dropped off the benchtop, going over to where Fenrir was building You, Butterfingers and Dummy girlfriends with Sleipnir providing ideas for the eventual aesthetic. Jor was sleeping over in the sound-proof crib in the corner with JARVIS monitoring him.

"Why six?"

"Is that your question for the month?"

"You pretty much answered it, but no. Here's my question, on a specific subject – does Captain America ever get found?"

"He's going to be defrosted in less than a year, my friend."

Tony immediately choked, fingers stumbling over the keyboard. "What?"

"Sorry, you've used up all your credit," she smirked, taking her iPod out of her pocket, "Of course, unless you do something for little old me…"

"JARVIS," Tony croaked out, "buy her the entire iTunes store thing whatsit." Immediately Darcy squeaked as her iPod started to flash.

"It won't have enough memory!"

"I'll upgrade that stupid iPod for you as well, but please, stop leaving me on this cliffhanger. What the fuck do you mean, they're already defrosting him?"

"SHIELD found him that week the Hulk destroyed Harlem back in oh-eight, the week you went missing. It's been hard going, but they'll have Steve Rogers back in mid two thousand and eleven, or at the start of two thousand and twelve."

Tony sat back in his spinning chair. "Shit."

"Language. Super-sonic hearing."

"Kids!"

"Yes Uncle Tony?"

"Don't repeat any bad words I say or your Mama will hurt us both, 'kay?"

"Okay."

Tony gave her a triumphant look, but Darcy only gave him a mocking smile.

"You think you're so tough. I doubt you'd survive my taser – it's brought down a God." She bragged, taking it out of her boot and twirling it, thankful for the recurrence of her favourite fashions – skinny jeans, boots, scarves, beanies and cargo jackets.

"God doesn't exist," he chimed.

Darcy gave him a wicked grin.

"I said _a_ God, Iron Man – anyway, doesn't metal conduct electricity?"

His spinning chair moved a few metres away.


	10. Chapter 10

It was hot. So. Damn. Hot. At least it was cool at night. Her children would kill her, otherwise. They would sneak into her bed and strangle her. But they wouldn't, because they love her. But still. Puente Antiguo was fucking _hot_. She'd almost forgotten it was a desert.

They still had the townhouse in New York waiting for them, with Stark anti-burglar security measures and bomb-proof glass, but Tony had fixed them up a nice little place with freezing air-con right beside Jane's laboratory. They'd already had pancakes with maple syrup at the café with hot chocolate, and were now heading towards their new temporary home – well, the kids were. They wanted to play in the pool in the back yard underneath the shade. Darcy however, was going to make friends next door.

Going into the lab at first was a throwback to another era, before she saw Jane puttering about one of her hand-made machines, Erik making coffee off to the side – and she almost cried, seeing the man in front of her, not wearing his birthday suit with bags under his eyes, still suffering the effects of Loki's mind-fucking and-

Oh.

This was why she only told the maybe-fake-funny stories to her kids about their Daddy. She didn't tell them about megalomaniac-Loki whose brain was a bag of cats. She'd forgotten what he was like.

"Hello," he stopped upon seeing her, smiling, "Are you the intern? You don't have a lot of bags." He looked to Jane. "Jane, it's the intern…Jane!"

"What?!" Jane jerked up, turning to Erik, "What-" she caught sight of Darcy, "Oh! Visitors! Oh, uh, well, uh-"

"It's fine, I'm just popping in. Yeah, I'm the intern – but I sort of have some baggage, so I got a place next door." Darcy smiled, motioning breezily next door to the new house with it's quite visible pool that a screaming child was now jumping into. "That's Hel."

"Looks like it," Erik muttered, only for Darcy to scratch the back of her neck.

"No, her name is literally Hel. H-E-L. Lucy Hel Lewis. In my family we go by middle names. I'm Darcy. She's my daughter, and the other two are my sons, Fenrir and Sleipnir, and the other is my child, Jormungandr."

"Are you from Norway?" Jane asked, face almost painfully young.

"They were all born there," she decided to go with the cover story, "I just came to say hello before making sure Jor doesn't drown. They're the little one in the blow-up duck." She glanced through the glass, seeing Fenrir making sure that didn't happen. "Or maybe not. Fenrir's got it covered. Yeah, he's got it." She turned back to them. "So, you gonna give me a tour?"

* * *

"Aunty Jane?"

"Yes Jormungandr?" Jane replied absentmindedly, looking at a sample.

"Are boys and girls two different things?"

"Yes. Biologically, girls and boys have different cells, and can be distinguished quite easily- oh, oh no," she looked up, turning to watch as the three year-old furrowed their brow, soft brown fringe falling over their eyes. "Uh, ah, uh…Darcy!"

"Darcy's not here, Jane," Erik poked his head out the window, glancing around to see Jormungandr, "Oh no, what did you do to the child?" He padded over, lifting them up and looking them over, copying their frown. "Now why are you smiling upside down, Jorry? Did your Aunty Jane say something mean by accident?"

Jor met their pseudo-grandpa's eyes. "I'm weird. People are supposed to be different, but I'm both." Erik's frown became one, instead of mocking, quite serious, placing Jor back on the chair, kneeling down in front of them.

"Jormungandr Lewis, you are not weird. You are perfect in every way."

"But I don't wanna be both!" They complained, face screwing up. "I wanna wear pretty dresses like Hel, and tie my hair up with flowers! I don't like having boys things and boys clothes – my trainers don't fit properly!"

Erik glanced at Jane, "Phone Darcy. Tell her what's happening." Jane nodded before looking for her phone frantically. Erik turned back to Jor. "Jormungandr, do you know why you have so many boy things?"

"Because I have a boy butt," they said in a whiny voice. Erik, taking it as it was, nodded.

"Your mom told me that she raised you a boy, before she discovered you were both a boy and a girl, and she's going to continue that, because you have the identifiable parts. Now you can dress up in skirts and dresses and any kind of girly things, but it's important for you to wear boy things too. We can get you some new trainers, ones that fit. That can be sorted. We can also get you dresses, and more girl things. But you've got to promise me," he raised his finger, pointing at the child seriously, " _promise me_ that you won't completely give up on being boyish. In this day and age, so many things are stereotypically for one gender. You don't have to conform to that. Your mother never raised you to conform. You do what you want kid, but promise me never to turn your back on anything because you don't like it. Promise me."

Jor squirmed, "But I don't want to."

"Promise," Erik repeated, holding up his pinky and slowly smiling. "Come on. Pinky promise!" Jor squirmed, but then a grin grew on their face and they linked their pinky with Erik's shaking it. "There we go!"

"Erik," Darcy interrupted, "Darcy says she can't get out of her work early in El Paso."

"Is she still on the phone?" Erik questioned. Jane nodded, prompting him to hold his hand out. She handed the phone over, Erik putting it to his ear. "Darcy."

" _Is Jor okay?_ "

"Yeah, we worked it out. I've promised to get them some new girly shoes – apparently their boy shoes don't fit right. You'll probably still have to talk to them later."

" _Yeah, I know – I should have predicted he'd ask- they'd ask, shit, why do I keep_ _ **doing**_ _that? It's been over a year._ "

Erik chuckled, grinning at Jor, "It's perfectly natural, Darcy. Would you like to speak with Jor now over the phone though?"

" _Best wait till tonight. Tell the viper they'd better have cleaned their room – bye Erik._ "

"Bye Darcy," he hung up, handing Jane her cell back before looking to Jor. "By any chance have you cleaned your room?" Jor's expression betrayed their guilt. Erik chuckled, ruffling their hair before batting them lightly. "Run off. I think I can convince Jane to eat something now she's been shocked out of Science Mode."

"She starves herself," Jor intoned wisely, causing said scientist to start a pitiful rebuttal, only for Fenrir to ride in on the back of BUSY, leaning back on the AI slash moving throne, looking like a King as he interrupted her.

"You starve yourself, Aunty Jane."

Jane huffed, defeated.


	11. Chapter 11

Darcy looked at the unconscious God with narrowed eyes, biting her lip as he laid on the lab sofa. Jane was pacing, looking at him periodically.

"I hit him with my car, I hit him with my car…why didn't we take him to the hospital again?"

"Because he's a God, and he'd break out anyway and you'd just run him over again," Darcy replied, before looking at the taser in her hand. It was stronger than her old one, and even then, he'd only awoken the next day, from what she could remember. He grunted, eyes fluttering open. "That was earlier than I expected," her eyes widened as he groaned, sitting up and looking around.

"Where have you taken the Mighty Thor!?" He roared, causing Darcy to squeak. He got up, unsteady. "Where am I?"

"Puente Antiguo." Jane answered faintly from behind her. Darcy nodded, before swallowing.

"Your Highness, can you respectfully calm down so I can explain some stuff to you?"

Thor looked at her, eyes narrowing, "You know who I am, puny mortal?" _Wow, he's so arrogant! Why don't I remember him being like this? Oh yeah, he got better here. That's the entire point, Lewis! Duh!_

"Yeah, I know who you are," she breathed in, calming her nerves as she stood straight. "First of all, you're on Earth, or Midgard. Second, you seriously need a shower and a change of clothes. You're dirty as hell from that dust storm. Third, you're mortal right now because of your Daddy-O taking away your powers and Mew-Mew."

"Mew-Mew?" He looked confused, before understanding dawned, "You speak of Mjolnir. Where is she?"

Darcy shrugged, "In a crater nearby, but you can't pick it up anyway. All that worthiness bullshit that's not actually bullshit. You need to prove yourself, dude."

Thor though, laughed, "Your words mean nothing to me, mortal, though I thank you for telling me that Mjolnir is near." He came over, clapping her on the shoulder hard enough to buckle her legs. Darcy pulled away with an awkward, close-mouthed grin as he went to leave, walking into the glass door.

"Take a few steps to your left, big guy," Darcy advised, watching as he did, finding the exit and stepping out into the desert, only for Fenrir to come riding up on his BMX, skidding to a stop with Sleipnir coming riding up afterwards. Darcy suddenly froze, nervous about the latter meeting his uncle. Thor stopped upon seeing them, watching as they dropped their bikes to run inside.

"Mama, Mama! Come see! We made ramps and jumps for our bikes in the desert and it's _so cool!_ You have to come see!"

Darcy came forward, glancing at Thor as she pulled Fenrir forward, Sleipnir not moving as he peered up at the blonde giant. "That sounds great, Henry." Immediately, the atmosphere picked up, and even Thor noticed. "Phillip, come here – oh, and where're Lucy and Teddy?"

"Lucy's having a bath," Fenrir spoke slowly, eyeing Thor all of a sudden. "She wasn't feeling too good. She's too hot. Teddy was playing with Garlic."

Darcy shot him a look, "Who or what is Garlic?" Fenrir froze, eyes going wide. "Henry…"

"Garlic is their pet snake. They found him in the desert, perfectly harmless," Erik spoke up from his work station mildly. "They're beside the pool, behind the bush. I can see them from here," he motioned through the glass, presumably to Jormungandr.

"What did you say your name was, mortal?" Thor questioned her suddenly, peering at her.

"Darcy Lewis. I thought you were going to go claim Mew-Mew?"

"Mjolnir," he corrected quietly, looking between the boys suspiciously before bowing. "Thank you for your hospitality. Asgard is in your debt." He turned, leaving, walking down the middle of the street, causing a build up and many cars to honk their horns. Jane hurried after him, and Darcy guessed this would be their bonding time – though this time, without her with them. Maybe they'd go for pancakes at the café like in the original time-line.

"What was that about?" Erik asked as he came up behind them.

"Read up on your Norse mythos." She muttered, before picking up Sleipnir, to his confusion, looking to Fenrir. "Take your inhaler, now. You should have it in your pocket all the time, Fen, for whenever you need it."

Fenrir shook his head, going over to a desk slowly, opening his mouth wide as he breathed. Darcy felt slightly angry as he took it out of a drawer, puffing five times over the next minutes.

"Fenrir, if I ever see you without your inhaler again, you're grounded."

Fenrir blinked, turning to look at her. "Grounded? What's grounded?"

"Grounded is not being allowed out to play, grounded means no TV or electricals, grounded means no Lego, or creating anything on anything other than paper. Grounded means you have to go back to basics – books, art, silence and plain old tag." She pointed a finger at him after shifting Sleipnir onto her hip, a feat to be reckoned with considering her small stature that Sleipnir himself was only a foot away from matching. "Inhaler. Pocket. Now."

He grumbled before taking a last puff, putting the lid on before shoving it in the zipper pocket of his jacket. Fenrir had worn the same style of clothing for a while now, all designer – dark grey tracksuit bottoms, a plain grey t-shirt, a plain black zipper jacket without a hood and a pair of grey Doc Martens made up his 'look'. That, plus his mop of brown hair and black BMX, Darcy thought her son looked awesome, to say the least. Sleipnir was her pride and joy sometimes as well, voluntarily wearing white collared shirts, ties, grey round-necked pullovers, grey wash skinny jeans and a pair of black Converse he'd had since toddler-hood that, with magic, he'd never let go into disrepair or stay the same size.

Hel herself, when she wasn't swimming either nude or in a blue swimsuit, preferred summer dresses, but loved sparkle – and because Darcy actually didn't like shopping, she went with Tony and Pepper, who spoiled her rotten by getting her thousand-dollar dresses that were practically paper bags, but made of fuck-expensive material with billion-dollar diamonds on the collars. And she didn't wear shoes normally, but when she did they were white leather gladiator sandals. With diamonds. Because obviously.

That though was the end of the fashion parade after that.

Because of how quickly they grew and their gender preference of the day, Jor had a lot of clothes for both boys and girls that came from normal stores – high end stores, but not stores that were didn't-need-price-tags-stores. Plus, they were barely three years old. They weren't very picky. The amount of clothes gave Darcy and Jor an excuse to play dress-up when she wasn't busy working part-time as a Child Psychologist in El Paso, or looking after Jane.

"Mama, can I get a bike like Fen's?" Sleipnir questioned as he put his mountain bike inside the door.

Darcy looked away from her retreating son, meeting eyes with his younger brother. "Ask me again nearer Christmas."

"Okay."


	12. Chapter 12

Phil was having a trying day. There was an 084 less than a mile away from a town, that they'd luckily quarantined – but Darcy Lewis was in town, and Phil kept looking over his shoulder, expecting to see her. Just her presence with Dr Jane Foster – a scientist specialising in wormholes – was worrying. He remembered the first time he'd met her, the fifteen year old who claimed to be thirty-one. He got a headache from remembering sometimes. So _talkative._ She was the only reason they didn't repossess Dr Foster's materials. Most likely they wouldn't even help, but it would be the usual thing.

Phil sighed, rubbing his head, wondering if he could maybe take that break he'd missed three hours ago. _I'm in charge of this base. I can get myself a nice, relaxing coffee if I want-_

"Sir, we've got a breach! North side of the perimeter!" An agent called out, Phil going over to the screen, frowning as he saw the blonde man get in past the fence, hiding behind one of the storage boxes. "Put out a silent alarm. All agents on alert – get a dozen converging on him." And he was just about to sit down, too.

* * *

Fenrir watched through his curled fingers as Thor fought with the man. He pushed one finger out, magic making the imaginary telescope zoom in till he saw the details.

"No wonder Mama doesn't like you – you fight dirty," he muttered, before looking to the base itself, bringing his arms down, telescope disappearing as he army-crawled up past the precipice, making himself unnoticeable as he rolled down the side of the crater. When he got to the bottom, the rain started, immediately making him grimace. He hated the rain. Give him snow or sun any day, but rain – rain was the sky's crying, rain was sad. And it was pouring buckets.

Sneaking up to the flimsy 'wall', Fenrir ramped up the notice-me-not field – he'd stolen the term from Harry Potter – before using a pocket knife he'd pickpocketed from a random townsperson to slit the fabric at the frame. Then he stuck his head through, noting the guard that had just passed and inwardly cussing, before slipping inside, padding behind the armoured man, repairing the slit in the wall. He made sure to follow every step the man made, knowing he was only unnoticeable if he went on _unnoticed_. His shoe suddenly squeaked, causing thee guard to turn their head. Fenrir ducked, freezing in a crouching position before the guard went back to patrolling, more wary than before.

It continued like that more a minute – copying the guard's footsteps and hiding in his shadow. It was almost fun for a second, until they came to what looked to be the central hub, causing him to dodge like crazy, slitting open the white sheet and slipping through into…

A dead end. He span around, but the only thing within the area was a few metal things and a big colossal hammer which Fenrir wanted to get the hell away from.

"Hey! Kid!" He spun, looking up only to see a blonde man with a bow up on a high crane. "What you doing down there?!" Fenrir froze, knowing he'd been caught. "Kid, seriously, this area's quarantined by the government. Or are you an agent's kid that they brought along? Is it Bring-Your-Kid-To-Work Day?" That was when the siren went off, giving Fenrir the distraction he needed to dive underneath the raised platforms, getting out of sight. He started to wheeze.

"Fricking-" _wheeze_ "asthma!" He took out his inhaler, watching the hammer that was surrounded in magic as shadows ran around the white sheeting, until finally the blonde man – Thor, was it? – came barrelling through with another man, knocking him out once he landed, before going up to the hammer. It seemed all very climatic, then anticlimactically, the hammer didn't lift, at first confusing the devastating the man.

"The Lady Darcy was right…" he murmured, just as government people came in, wearing familiar uniforms… _SHIELD!_ Fenrir suddenly remembered the logo, hitting himself on the forehead for not noting the familiar eagle. But then the hammer caught his eye, a symbol appearing on it for less than a second before disappearing. His eyes caught Thor's.

"Loki?" The man's brows knit together, before agents came over to him, having caught sight of him, pulling him out from under the platform, negating the notice-me-not. "You are the boy – Henry?"

"Fenrir, actually," a man casually corrected, prompting Fenrir to look right at him. "I've met your mother, Mr Lewis. She's under SHIELD's protection, as are you."

"Your protection?!" Thor exclaimed, suddenly raging, "That is Loki's spawn! A monster beyond your imagination!" Fenrir narrowed his eyes at the man. _Thor is Loki's brother, or so they say._

"You are not a very good uncle if you call your brother's child a monster," Fenrir replied coolly, before tugging out of the grips of the agents surrounding him, using magic to shift all the dirt, rain and mud off his figure. "Mama told us stories about you, you know. She's from the future. She said you're very chivalrous, but that's in the future. You aren't the Thor she knows yet." He cocked his head sideways. "In the Norse Mythos, collected myths about your culture and histories around Earth, I am supposedly a giant wolf." He flashed a grin, letting the illusion on his sharp canines fall. "I assure you that I only have fangs at present, though I am not above learning shapeshifting just to piss you-"

"Fenrir Lewis!" Darcy suddenly interrupted their squabble, glaring daggers at him, "You are _grounded!_ Bed empty, no note, bike gone – I just made a Harry Potter pun because it's probably the only time _in my life_ I'll ever make one in reference to misbehaving little _children!_ " She stomped over, grabbing him by his chin, looking him over before bopping him on the nose. "As it is, well done for infiltrating SHIELD. You're getting grounded for getting caught. Now go and get your bike and ride home. I'm going to take weird, government custody your Uncle and bring him back to Jane – she'll work wonders on him while we're all hiding in the house."

Fenrir was speechless, "Mama? How did you get out here?"

She rolled her eyes, "Didn't you just hear me? I'm here for Thor – because I thought you were home, looking after your siblings. Thank god Eric hasn't gotten involved yet." She breathed in deep, pointing to the exit. "Go. Now – and when you get home, you can clean the pool, _without_ magic. And hide your teeth, for Christ's sake."

Fenrir squared his jaw, but nodded, looking to his feet as he stalked off, teleporting as soon as his back was turned to his mother. Picking up his bike from the dust, he got on, speeding off, only his skill on his BMX and night-vision keeping him from injuring himself on the rocky, sloping New Mexico desert. At least he got one thing out of this venture.

He knew his supposed _uncle_ was as mortal as could be – and would be until he proved himself.

But Fenrir skidded to a stop as he saw something in the sand. _What the hell?_


	13. Chapter 13

"Who are you really, mortal?" Thor questioned as he sat in the white room. Darcy, who leant against the glass in front of him, shrugged.

"Just a civilian. I'm a mother to four beautiful children, and an expert in the inner workings of the mind. This evening, you met Fenrir at his most raw – he cares for his siblings a lot, too much almost." She shifted onto her other foot, stepping forward. "Earlier today, I blatantly named you a threat to them. Fenrir reacted accordingly, and followed you to the SHIELD Base to gauge your true level of danger. He grew up on stories of his father, I made sure of that, but most gave him the message that you're a dimwit – a violent dimwit, with a lot of political power, who rushes into action and starts wars for fun." Her voice was harsh, spitting, and Thor even flinched a little bit. "I'm Darcy Fucking Lewis, Thor, and you'd better not forget that I was able to knock you out with one of the simplest weapons I have the ability to use. Now, my turn to ask the questions."

"I will not answer any of your demands-"

"How did they get here?" She interrupted, eyes burning. "Why were Loki's children physically banished from Asgard?"

Thor growled, "They were not."

"Stop lying."

"The Mighty Thor does not lie," he growled, standing, "falsehoods remain forever with my brother – not me. They were not banished from Asgard," he repeated.

"Then how did they appear to me? How did they magically appear out of nowhere over the first years of this century?"

Thor motioned above, "My mother, Frigga, enacted a mission of her own, to secret Loki's abominations from Asgard to somewhere they could grow up safe and loved. Until the day the fourth was born, I did not know that they had not indeed died in Loki's womb, as I and my father had been told. Neither did Loki."

Immediately Darcy's eyes widened, "What the hell? Loki doesn't know they're _alive?_ "

"My mother," Thor grit his teeth, "took them to the Garden of Whispers, whereupon a crack between the worlds lies. She was going to take them to this place – this realm, Midguard, but Odin discovered her plans and sent me to intercept them. They all fell through the crack, and were lost to us all, until now." He stepped closer to her, his expression morphing into one of pleading, "You do not understand, Lady Darcy. These children are destined to ride along the shadows and bring Ragnarok to Asgard, to end mine and my kin's existences. The Prophecies are never wrong!"

Darcy glared, "They are _children_ – and no wonder they're never wrong! You make them happen, you oaf! It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy – you only bring Ragnarok because of your actions trying to _prevent_ it!"

Thor's eyes widened, "What? No, how- this cannot be true…" he staggered back, "We- we bring Ragnarok upon _ourselves?_ The end of my people is because of our foolishness?"

There were a few moments of silence, before Darcy tentatively, "Thor, that's not exactly what I meant-"

"No," he interrupted her quietly, a determined look appearing on his face, "You have made me remember something my brother said, something…" he sighed loudly, rubbing the bridge of his nose, muttering to himself, "It's _madness_ …"

"I apologise." He spoke again suddenly, making her jump slightly. "And I will make it up to them all. To Loki, to my mother – to my nieces and nephews. I _will_ accept them. I will love them and cherish them to the end of my days – and I would ask that you let me get to know them." He looked sincere.

 _Looked_ sincere.

Darcy raised her chin.

"Beg."

"Please-"

"Kneel. Beg my permission to get to know your family, when they haven't even properly met their own father." She said harshly, and that was when Thor hesitated. She could see it in his eyes, the unwillingness to bow – but then, to her utmost surprise, it faded, eyes lowering as he dropped to his knee softly, one leg up, his arms resting on it heavily.

"Lady Darcy, I beg of you, let me at least meet them once."

Darcy tilted her head, before crouching, meeting his lowered eyes.

"Hey. First thing you'll need to know before you meet 'em – the younger ones will treat you like a climbing tree. Second thing, never call Jormungandr a girl or boy, or any of the pronouns that come with them. They're to be addressed as if they're plural. Third thing," she gave a wide, cold smile, her eyes twinkling with a dark light, "if you ever betray them or me to Odin, or those that would harm them, you will wish you never went to Jotunheim, Thor Odinson."

Thor's eyes sparked, before he put his fist to his heart, "I swear I will never betray them, Lady Darcy, not while I still breathe. If I ever do, I will gladly die, or submit to whatever punishment you see necessary. I swear, on me, my brother, my mother, and the stars above. I will never let myself do such a thing. Never."

Darcy smiled better at him then, threat taken over by kindness. She stood, pulling him up with her. "Then welcome to the family, Thor."

* * *

Fenrir circled the markings in the ground. They radiated magic – he could feel it tingling in his skin, making him shiver. It was old, ancient even. If he stepped onto it, Fenrir didn't know what would happen.

So he wouldn't step on it.

 _Step_ on it.

Grabbing his bike, Fenrir peddled away from it smoothly, before turning sharply and peddling faster, going towards it, riding over it and-

Rainbow light beamed down, catching him halfway through. The magic, surprisingly, was benign, and Fenrir even _enjoyed_ it for a few seconds as he looked through the tunnel and saw stars, before he was spat out, only his sharp reflexes stopping him from crashing down, BMX instead keeping on riding, speeding around the sudden podium and skidding to a stop sharply. Immediately Fenrir went for his inhaler, staring wide-eyed at the black man in golden armour removing a gigantean sword from the podium he'd dodged.

"Where am I? Is this Asgard?"

Heimdall turned to face him, getting down on his knee and bowing. "Prince Fenrir, welcome home." He stood. "I will accompany you to meet the King."

"Heimdall, why was the Bifrost used? Did you bring back Thor?" Came a questioning, desperate voice, causing Fenrir to crack his head in their direction. Immediately his eyes widened in awe as he saw her – a beautiful, armour-clad woman with flowing black locks and a cream-coloured face. Her eyes were the bluest blue – like the sea! – and her cheeks sharp as glass-

"Your Highness, I would stop staring at my sister. She does not take kindly to staring." Heimdall said amusedly. Immediately Fenrir stuttered, cheeks flushing oddly before he looked away.

"Who is this?" The woman asked disappointedly. "And why did you call him, 'Your Highness'?"

"Sif," Heimdall looked at her properly, finally standing from his bow. "Please take this child to say the King."

Sif narrowed her eyes, "What would the King want to do with a child?" Fenrir frowned at her words, before looking to Heimdall again.

"Can you give me directions if you're going to send me to him?" _No way am I going to see Odin._

Heimdall gave an amused smile, "Straight along the Rainbow Bridge and up the Golden Street – a straight line from the Bifrost Chamber to the Palace, here to there."

Fenrir nodded, "Thank-you." He pushed off on his bike, pedalling around Sif and the podium out of the entrance, immediately widening his eyes at the sight in front of him, keeping the bike in a straight line as he gaped at the might of what could only be Asgard.

Golden buildings rose in ascending order from either side, shimmering in the sunlight before meeting in the middle at a gigantic palace, that had a single spire reaching up at least twice the size of a skyscraper. Where he was – crossing this 'Rainbow Bridge' – saw him traversing an epically long structure over a shimmering grey sea, that on glancing back saw was falling like a waterfall into space, stars visible across just as they were above. It was a feat of architecture, how the 'Bifrost Chamber' was placed on the edge of this cliff – but he had to stop looking in fear of veering off the edge of the bridge.

Also, he'd caught sight of Sif running after him, so he ramped up the pace.

Upon reaching the end of the bridge, coming to the start of civilisation, Fenrir had the dilemma that was people – and cobbled streets. The second was hard to go across with his bike, making everything 'jiggly', as his mother might say, but the first was harder to manoeuvre. People scattered as he turned sudden corners, more than once causing screams, shouts and one memorable moment, a throwing knife that he caught haphazardly, putting between his teeth for lack of better sheath, having to use two hands to stop himself from running Asgardians – Aesir? – over.

Fenrir was having _fun_.

All throughout, Sif was chasing him, and had the city guards after him as well. He had been at it for about an hour now, and only now was he beginning to feel the adverse effects, having ignored the tightness in his chest until now. The result was his fingers going numb from lack of oxygen, and even his vision going dark for a moment before he crashed into a crowd of people, dazed and unable to breathe.

Sif and the guards surrounding him, Fenrir grappled for his pockets, trying to find his inhaler – taking it out of his pocket and stuffing the dagger in his shoe just as Sif knelt down, noticing his troubles in breathing.

"He can't breathe – step back, all of you!" She snapped as he tried to bring the inhaler to his mouth, managing it, but not managing to squeeze the cap down, numb fingers unclasping from around the dark blue contraption. It fell to the cobbles as he started to seize, but then Sif grabbed it, bringing it to his mouth and squeezing, releasing a cloud that coated his throat. He breathed in sharply, chest expanding before contracting again. He brought his hand up clumsily, increasing pressure around her hand five times. Five more clouds were pumped into his system, and then another set when he communicated the same way.

By the end of his episode, Fenrir felt exhausted, and there was a definitive ring around him – which parted on one side extremely suddenly, admitting a tall, black-haired man with an as equally tall golden stick, a horned helmet on his head.

"What happened here?"

Fenrir looked at him blearily, curiosity overwhelming his want to grab his bike and run.

"I got beamed up," he coughed, "that Heimdall guy. I was on my bike, and rode over the giant burn mark on the ground. Mother had told me to go home after I followed Thor to the SHIELD Base-"

Immediately there were whispers, and he stopped, listening as the loud shouts of "Thor!" echoed around. The black-haired man himself looked annoyed.

"You have seen Thor. That means you are from Midguard – humans aren't permitted on Asgard. You will be returned to your planet, child, and…" the man smirked slightly, "I hope you do not cause yourself any trouble. I hear that on Midguard they have hospices dedicated entirely for those they believe insane."

Fenrir glared at his words, temper riled as he got up, using magic to summon his bike to hand, causing Sif to back away, sword drawing a second later.

"Then it is a good thing I am not human then, and am permitted here. My name is Fenrir, and Thor is my idiot uncle. Who are you?"


	14. Chapter 14

Hel hummed as she played with the gems in her hand, using magic to attach them to her necklace. She wanted to be pretty – _so_ pretty that all the other girls at school would be jealous and be angry at her for being so pretty. Hel sighed, before hearing Jormungandr calling for her. Tucking the necklace and her little bucket of gems into her hidden cupboard, she locked it with magic, then got up.

"Coming Jor!" Disgruntled, Hel ran out of the room and down the stairs to where Jormungandr was playing with Garlic. "Jor?"

"Hel! Hel, Hel, Hel – look!" They pointed at the window, but Hel didn't see anything. "Wainbow!"

Hel scrunched up her nose, "Rainbow? Jormungandr, New Mexico can't get rainbows – and you certainly can't get rainbows at _night_. Is that all you called me here…for…" Hel suddenly felt cold, like something had been taken half-way out of her chest. Hand going to her heart, she whimpered, knowing something wasn't right.

Looking around, she saw the emergency phone on her mummy's desk and bounded over, grabbing it and dialling. It picked up a few seconds later.

" ** _Hello?_** "

"Mama, something's wrong. My chest hurts and Jor says there was a rainbow and-"

" ** _A rainbow?_** " Her mother sounded frantic, " ** _Hel, put the phone on speaker and bring it to Jormungandr. Now!_** "

Hel brought the phone from her ear, padding over to Jor as she pressed the button. "That's it on speaker, mama."

" ** _Jor? Jor can you hear me, baby?_** "

Jor picked up, "Mama! I saw a wainbow!"

" ** _Yes, a rainbow – what did it look like, Jor? Was it a weird-ass rainbow that went up and down instead of in the shape of a rainbow?_** "

"Uh-huh." Jor nodded, rocking back and forth on his butt. "Mama, why was Fenrir in the wainbow?"

There was a beat of silence from their mother before she said a bad word that had Hel gasping despite her achy chest.

"Mama! You said a bad word!"

" ** _Sorry! Damn, your Uncle Tony's going to laugh his ass off – don't repeat what I just said under any circumstances! Any, Lucy Hel, Teddy Jormungandr!_** " Her voice became muffled for a second, before she spoke again. " ** _Okay, sweeties, mommy's going to be a little while, but I'm coming back with your Uncle Thor soon – he's going to stay with Aunty Jane, and'll visit whenever you like. He's not got a lot of money right now, but he tells really good stories, 'kay?_** "

"But Mama, my chest still hurts," Hel whimpered, rubbing it.

" ** _I'll help you when I get home, Hel, I promise – and I always keep my promises, remember? Mommy's gotta say goodbye now though – goodbye._** "

"Bye Mama," Hel said quietly, before Jormungandr climbed onto her lap and shouted into the phone.

"Bye-bye Mama!"

" ** _Love you both,_** " and then the call ended.

* * *

Darcy got off her cell, feeling absolutely terrified. Coulson was looking at her in confusion.

"Miss Lewis? Is something wrong?"

"Fenrir's on Asgard," she looked to Thor, whose eyes widened, the blood draining from his face.

"They will kill him, unless Loki finds him first," he said solemnly. But Darcy shook her head frantically.

"You said it yourself Thor – Loki doesn't know they're alive. He'll think it's a trick! He'll do worse than kill him – he'll _deny_ him."

Thor shook his own head, "No, Loki would never – every last child throughout the centuries that has come to him claiming to be his, either because of they themselves being deceived by their true parents, or because they wish to be more than they are, Loki has had thoroughly checked. None were his, but those that truly did not know they were anything but Loki's child was taken into his personal household, apart from the Royal Family. His estate houses no less than three dozen Aesir children that had claimed to be his, and more than four times of that number of orphans without homes, or those in bad living situations. He will not turn Fenrir away without serious consideration."

Darcy fretted though, looking to Coulson, "Get someone posted out there, please, to just guard it-"

"Sir!" Another agent interrupted, "We've had some new readings sir, and Dr Foster's equipment has been a huge help-"

"What?!" Darcy exclaimed, angry, "You stole Jane's stuff _again?!_ I hope to God you didn't take my iPod again!" She looked at Coulson viciously, watching as he took the device from his pocket, handing it over. "I knew it! _iPod-Thief strikes again!_ "

"I trust this is what happened in the last timeline," Coulson remarked with a slight smile.

"Yeah, but I NEVER got it back," she gave him a stink-eye, putting the iPod in her pocket along with its headphones before standing straight, looking to Thor. "We're gonna go console Jane while _these guys_ ," she gave them all a glare, "get her stuff together and bring it back to the lab, with compensation cheques that'll fund her research for another ten years."

"Of course," Coulson said smoothly, as if Darcy hadn't just not-so-covertly ordered him to go against orders. Grabbing at Thor's shirt – _Donald's_ shirt – Darcy pulled the hot-ass Asgardian out of the SHIELD Base, towards home.

 _Fenrir, wherever you are, I hope you're okay._

* * *

Loki had no idea what he was doing down in the city, but he'd heard there was a young child on a contraption terrorising the populace, and that of all people _Sif_ was heading the chase. So he deemed it important to find out who he was – for all he knew, it could be Sif's illegitimate lovechild. Oh, that would be some kind of rumour. But then as he got closer to the area, he saw there was a commotion around the child, and as he removed his disguise, saw the aftereffects of some kind of breathing trouble, Sif holding a small but unfamiliar piece of equipment in hand as the boy tried to catch his breath.

"What happened here?"

The child glanced up, blinking and squinting at him, before speaking roughly, coughing.

"I got beamed up – that Heimdall guy. I was on my bike, and rode over the giant burn mark on the ground. Mother had told me to go home after I followed Thor to the SHIELD Base-"

Immediately there were whispers, and the boy stopped, listening as the loud shouts of "Thor!" echoed around. Loki himself pursed his lips. _Of course, of **course** this boy has met bloody **Thor!**_

"You have seen Thor," Loki tried to get a hold of the situation. "That means you are from Midguard – humans aren't permitted on Asgard. You will be returned to your planet, child, and…" Loki decided to scare him slightly, to see what he would do. _Oh get angry, I love it when children get angry. When you reprimand them their faces of understanding are so much better than Thor's_. Thor never understood what he was supposed to after being told off. "I hope you do not cause yourself any trouble. I hear that on Midguard they have hospices dedicated entirely for those they believe insane."

Instantly the boy glared, standing shakily and using magic to summon his contraption, causing Sif to back off and draw her sword and for Loki to stare. _He is proficient in magic – who is powerful enough to teach a child this at his apparent age?_ His mother- Frigga, had only taught him how to use magic later in life, in his early centuries.

"Then it is a good thing I am not human then, and am permitted here. My name is Fenrir, and Thor is my idiot uncle. Who are you?"

Loki's back straightened, _What? Another one? But I thought I'd weeded them all out finally-_

"Well?" The boy was both patient and impatient. "Who are you?"

"He is the King of Asgard, at present," a guard said roughly, looking at the child suspiciously – probably for his use of magic. "Loki son of Odin, King Regent. Kneel, _boy_."

The boy looked to the guard, distain present on his face that, oddly enough, was quite familiar to Loki. _Maybe he is the son of an acquaintance – Amora, perhaps? Lorelei, even?_ Surely it was a sorceress, or sorcerer – who would teach him otherwise? And it had to be someone powerful-

"Woah, what? How did you become King?" The boy suddenly looked at him, confounded, "Odin's King, isn't he? Or is he dead? Please say he is dead!"

Loki shot him a look, "His is in Odinsleep, child, but I would warn you not to speak like that of my father." _Fake father,_ he thought bitterly. "You may find yourself with the unfortunate consequences of insulting a monarch."

The boy wilted. _What is he playing at? He will be lynched if he doesn't conceal his true intentions._ "Great. So am I going to get executed when he wakes up?"

Loki became befuddled, leaning on the King's Staff, Gungnir, as he listened to the child who claimed to be his darling Fenrir.

"Why would you be executed?" He asked quietly. Odin knew all too well that his children had died, despite the rumours they'd been secreted away. He knew they hadn't.

"Because I'm Fenrir," the boy squared his shoulders, "I grew up on Earth – Midguard. In Norse Mythos, and what my mother said, I know that humans think I'm some sort of giant wolf that bites off Tyr's hand and is part of Ragnarok. Mother said that in Asgard much is similar."

"Mother?" Loki pried.

"I was adopted," the boy leant on his contraption, "I appeared out of nowhere, and the same happened with Hel, Sleipnir and Jor." Immediately Loki stiffened, eyes widening as the listening crowd started whispering. The boy looked around, glaring. "What? Don't believe me? Pfft," he shook his head, before coughing again, reaching for his pocket as he wheezed, only to grapple at nothing inside, eyes immediately whipping around to Sif. "Could you please-" he wheezed, "please give me my inhaler?"

Sif narrowed her eyes, "What does it do?"

The boy glared, holding onto his contraption so tight his knuckles turned white. "It helps me breath. My lungs are crap." He stiffened, wheezing again slightly, "Don't tell my mother I said that. I'm already grounded for getting caught by authorities while following Thor." He held his hand out. "If you would, please."

Sif though didn't look about to hand it over any time soon. Loki cleared his throat.

"Sif, give the child this…inhaler."

"But Your Highness-"

"Sif, he can't breathe." Loki interrupted irritably, glaring until she handed it over, the boy snatching it out of her outstretched hand and bringing it to his mouth, inhaling several mouthfuls of whatever it was. He did it many times, before stuffing it in his pocket, before looking back to Loki.

"What happens now?"

Loki hesitated, and that was all it took before someone from the crowd shouted out, "Is Jor Loki's fourth child?"

"Jormungandr, yes, but why?" The boy answered the question, Loki's face paling to an extraordinary level before he strode over, grasping his shoulder and going down to his level, meeting his eyes.

"You know his name."

"Yes. They're my sibling."

Loki, leaving the staff standing on its own, put a hand to his own face. "You're actually him. You're actually Fenrir."

The boy- Fenrir- _his son_ , frowned lightly. "Why wouldn't I be? I could understand the confusion about Jor, because that's a weird topic when you don't know."

"What's weird?" Loki questioned.

Fenrir shook his head, glancing around. "That's not anyone else's business. Can we go somewhere else?"

Loki nodded hurriedly, gripping his shoulder tightly before transporting them and Gungnir to his personal quarters. Upon arriving, Fenrir looked around, before meeting his eyes again. For a few seconds they stood like this, before Fenrir hugged him.

Hugged _him_.

Loki.

"It's really good to finally meet you."

Loki squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop himself from crying. "I had always thought the rumours to be falsehoods – but you are real, you are my son. You knew Jormungandr's name – no-one knew what his name was, no-one but my mother and the healers."

Immediately Fenrir stiffened. "Their name. No-one knew what _their_ name was." Loki looked down at him, confused, watching as the child pulled away slightly. "Jormungandr's a boy _and_ a girl."

Loki blinked, stepping back as the words washed over him.

"Oh…oh no…my abnormalities have passed to my child…" he stumbled further back, hitting the wall as he started to hyperventilate. "No, no-"

"You're like Jormungandr?" Fenrir asked, anger tinging his voice. "Why are you saying no then? What- wait, are you _prejudiced_ against _yourself?_ You think that being both is a crime?" The boy rubbed his wrists, "I always thought Asgard wasn't like that, that they were better than humanity – but they're not, are they?"

Loki shook his head frantically. "I apologise," he said with an edge of panic, "I apologise. You have been raised by Midguardians – you do not seem find my…differences, unnatural."

"Never," Fenrir said strongly, prompting Loki to actually _look_ at him properly. He had tanned skin, with olive tinge, and small dark eyes that matched his own in shape, and wore a loose set of clothes in shades of grey. His hair was thick and slightly wavy, a thick, straight-cut fringe barely ending above his eyebrows, which Loki recognised as his own, reaching just past his ears to brush the collar of his odd jacket, framing a soft face, with no sharp edges but the very start of a good jaw and hollowing cheeks. He was growing up. Loki swallowed, before sweeping his eyes downwards then up again.

 _My figure, but broader shoulders_ , he thought to himself, before looking away and shutting his eyes, trying to calm. _Jormungandr is like me. He is both_. Oh, how that hit home hard. All his life Odin had punished him for being so different, so _abnormal_. Frigga had been silent on the matter, though had always offered warm arms when he cried or became upset over both the matter and others. Thor didn't know the technicalities, but knew enough to find it embarrassing to a level where he became angry.

"Papa?"

Loki put a hand to his mouth, eyes opening wide as he looked up at his- at his _son_ , who looked at him with a worried expression, brows knitted together in a way that Loki recognised from every time he looked at himself all over in the mirror.

"Papa, what…what can I do to help?" Fenrir padded over, crouching in front of him, finally parting completely from his odd contraption.

"You're beautiful," Loki said under his breath, still staring. "F…Fenrir, what did your…what did your mother tell you about me?"

"That you had daddy-issues because you're adopted," his son replied promptly, making Loki blink in confusion, "and you were amazing at magic. You like playing tricks and confusing people. You love Thor, though sometimes it doesn't look like it. You can talk your way out of anything, but you can also talk your way into things without gaining a way out. Your favourite colour is green. You love us very much, despite having never looked after us. You gave us up so we could be happy." He rocked slightly, on the balls of his feet before sitting down in front of him properly, silent as he crossed his legs.

Loki wondered at the description he gave. Nearly everything was right. _How did he know I was adopted?_ But he would get to that in a moment.

"Fenrir, I didn't give you up so you could be happy," he told him a few seconds later, believing in this case – _this case_ – that honesty was the best policy. "I thought you were dead. There have always been rumours that either I or the Queen had hidden you, but I never believed them. You – you, Hel, Sleipnir, Jormungandr, all of you…you were dead, or I thought you were dead."

"Well obviously the rumours were right," Fenrir replied promptly, "so does this mean I can meet my grandmother without fear?"

"Perhaps," Loki offered, muttering, before he sat up, shuffling so his back was straighter. "Now, if you would, tell me how you know I'm adopted. Or how your mother knows."

"Mama's from the future.

Loki blinked.

"Could you repeat that?"


	15. Chapter 15

"What do you mean, Fenrir's gone?" Jane asked, eyes wide. "Where is he? What happened?" She bit her lip, fretting, completely forgetting Science! as she worried over her pseudo-nephew. Really – a year with Darcy and her kids did a world of good for the Einstein-Rosen Bridge fanatic.

Darcy put her hands on Jane's arms, "I don't know what happened, but I know he travelled through the Bifrost. For all I know he could be dead, but I'd like to believe he's with his father."

Jane still fretted, "But what happens if his inhaler runs out? If he gets hurt – or he fell off his bike and hurt himself by- by impaling himself on it?!" Darcy grit her teeth.

"Jane, calm it. He's my kid. Stop worrying. Here," she pushed her towards where Thor stood, "talk to Thor about the Bifrost. He knows about it, a little. His brother's more knowledgeable, but he's good enough. Make him see some sense about humankind, and your Scienceing." Darcy gave an over-exaggerated nod before pushing the rover, hoping they could kindle – rekindle? No, kindle was good – some romance they had in the last timeline.

Turning off her iPod to save its battery, Darcy sighed before tying her headphones up, leaving for her house. Upon arriving, Sleipnir pounced on her.

"Mama, BUSY won't leave me alone." He complained quietly into her neck, Darcy glancing around to find BUSY moving her arms up and down in panicked motions. "Fenrir's the only one who can tell her what to do except you."

Darcy nodded, before swinging her third-youngest child – who, despite his age, was taller than Hel by about half a foot – onto her back and looking at BUSY.

"BUSY, go to your charging station until Fenrir returns. He's gone on a trip, and we don't know when he'll be back. Until he does come back – and we will notify you – you will stay in Fenrir's room and look after all the little robots." Fenrir had recently gone on a robot spree, creating little AI demons who liked to mock-battle in his room, never really leaving unless Fenrir sent them out for food.

BUSY beeped, the sound distinctly hurt, before she turned, rolling towards the stairs, climbing up with an ease that would otherwise seem impossible for such a large machine.

"There, she's gone until Fenrir gets back," Darcy spoke to Sleipnir, before she walked heavily through the house to the living room, where Hel and Jormungandr were playing Monopoly. Immediately Darcy groaned, knowing they'd be fighting over the green lots soon enough.

"Hey babes, look whose home." The two looked up, immediately calling her name, rushing over to bombard her with hugs, Darcy stumbling a bit before smiling, letting Sleipnir down before bringing all three into a gigantic hug. "Sandwich!" She grinned, before hugging them what would be painfully tight in human terms, but was barely even a squeeze in her kids'.

It was good to be home.

After the greeting was over, Darcy gave them each kisses on their heads, "Have you had dinner yet?" No's came from all round, so she wiggled her eyebrows. "How does pizza and ice-cream sound?"

"Hawaiian!" Hel immediately called, before Jormungandr asked for cheese, Sleipnir staying quiet – Darcy and he always shared a pepperoni. Fenrir liked all types, and would snag a few pieces from everyone usually, when he was there. At that thought her heart dropped slightly, before remembering she needed to put the oven on. Extricating herself from the three, she ran off to the kitchen, humming along to the music that someone had turned on, smiling a touch as she saw the freezer being opened out of the corner of her eye, Hel reaching in for the boxes as she turned the oven dial.

Darcy glanced out the window at the sky after getting the correct temperature, staring at the stars above. _How are you up there, Fen? Are you okay? Have you met your dad?_ The time-traveller sighed, before placing a smile back on her face, knowing it had slipped – and then she turned to her excited trio of children, who were ripping open the pizza packets.

 _I hope you find him, Loki._

* * *

Across the galaxies, at the other end of the universe, Thanos sat on his throne, watching Gamora as she slept at his feet. Nebula had been resistant to his most recent upgrades of her android parts and was therefore spending some quality time with the Other and his minions. Gamora was perfect though. She was the _definition_ of Perfect, in that moment of time – silent, humble in his presence, and at a moment's notice, ready to kill in his name. The scars she bore, that marred her beauty didn't matter – they were proof that she was ready for the task he had set her. It would take at least a year's travel within cryosleep on a deep-space Starship to get to Nova Prime, but she would get there. His intel from his Lady Death told him that it was important she was there so she could get the Space Stone, which had been long hidden from his sight.

A Chitauri chittered as it passed behind him. The noise annoyed Thanos. A simple wave of his hand caused it's spine to crush, it's presence dimming before what wapish bit of soul it still possessed flew to Hel.

Thanos _would_ find Death's True Body, and Death _would_ present herself to him. They would be together, and they _would_ rule the multiverse side by side. All he had to do was find the Infinity Stones, piece together the Infinity Gauntlet, and then he could pluck Death's True Body from the rabble of the multiverse. They would be together.

And the multiverse would be baptised by destruction.

* * *

Darcy debated, you know. She actually tried to make a choice – stay with her kids and trust in Loki, and trust in Jane to sort out Thor without her intervention, or go out to the desert and demand Heimdall beam her up like Scotty so she could make sure her son, her _first baby boy_ was alive and well, damn the consequences of a human being on Asgard. Jane in the future had told her of the awkward, one-sided conversation she had with Odin when the Aether had infected her system, where he called her a goat, of all things. Jane wasn't a goat, thank-you very much.

But that choice was taken away from her when Coulson decided that a delegation would be sent up to Asgard with her as their head, demanding the return of their young citizen. Phil was treating it like a hostage situation until questions were answered, and Darcy didn't blame him – for all she knew, it was. Odin could come down on their heads, demanding resources in return for the good treatment of Fenrir, or worse, he could use him as leverage over Darcy and Loki, and that could lead to a whole other mess. Thor was trying, yes, but she could still sense he was wary of his brother's children.

So now she was out in the desert, standing with Clint – and god, was that such a great, one-sided reunion. She hugged him so hard, and after being briefed he let her. Clint had been like that annoying big brother to her, in the future, and was one of the only people other than Phil, Daisy and Pepper who understood what it meant to wrangle scientists and or superhero killers. So she stood with Clint in the desert, and with them were another dozen agents all armed to the teeth, Agent Coulson himself – Sitwell was looking after the base, to her unease, memories of his true allegiance at the forefront of her mind – and three scientists who were undercover as Junior Agents, who would be observing the environment of Asgard from a scientific perspective. And Darcy had to say, their cover was excellent – they were so reclusive yet they had the nervous looks down to a pat.

"Okay, I think we've wasted enough time going over protocol. We have to go," Darcy said as she saw Jane's van approach, "Otherwise we'll be taking an exiled God back with us and a crazy Jane." And her children, she added in her head as she saw the familiar blonde head of Sleipnir in the passenger's seat on Thor's lap.

Coulson nodded, before looking up. "Mr Heimdall, if you would be so kind, it would be appreciated if you could transport us to the planet of Asgard to meet-" before he could even finish, the Bifrost blasted down around them, and the next thing she knew, she was sprawled on the floor, forehead bouncing off what felt like marble.

"Ugh," she got up, rubbing her head, getting up. Heimdall was taking his big sword from the mechanism, and beside him… "Fenrir!"

"Mama!" He bounced over, running into her. Darcy buried her fingers in his hair, feeling a huge weight fall off her shoulders as she held him tight.

"Fen, you don't know how worried we've been…" she pulled back from the hug, looking him over critically. Her eyes widened upon seeing him in a loose green tunic, black leather trousers, a belt and a small, fitted green and black leather jacket that covered so much for such a small waist-coat thing. "Holy baloney, you look so much like your dad!"

"He certainly does," came a familiar cadence. Darcy looked up, eyes widening behind her glasses upon seeing Loki in full armour, complete with his cape, horned helmet, and even some weird golden staff. He bowed to her. "The Lady Darcy, I would rightly assume – the one who raised my children."

"Uh, yeah…" Darcy muttered, before rubbing her eyes, pushing her glasses up onto her head before putting them on again properly. "Look, I don't really know Asgardian protocol for greeting Royals, so sorry if I fuck this up- shit, Fenrir, don't copy that, Mommy's a bit frazzled right now. The Bifrost scrambled her brain." And it seemed to actually have – she felt dizzy, and- great, now she was seeing double. "Oh, Bifrost actually did screw with me. Clint, catch me."

And then she blacked out.


End file.
